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The Future Life. 



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ETTERS 



ON 



The Future Life, 



ADDRESSED TO 



HENRY WARD BEECHER. 



BY • f?3 6 J, 



B. F. BARRETT. 



" There is no Death ! What seems so, is transition ; 
This life of mortal breath 
Is but a suburb of the life elysian, 

Whose portal we call Death." — Longfellow. 



PHILADELPHIA: 
CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFEL FINGER. 

1873- 



iC^ 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1872, by 

CLAXTON, REMSEN & HAFFELFINGER, 

in the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



STEREOTYPED BY Js FAGAN & SON, PHILADELPHIA. 



PREFACE. 



THE immediate occasion of these Letters, was Mr. 
Beecher's sermon on "The Hereafter" published in 
Plymouth Pulpit, March 23d, 1872. Three of them ap- 
peared first in The Golden Age ; and were favorably- 
received, I am told, by persons of spiritual insight and 
religious culture. 

I have, therefore, been induced to add three more of con- 
siderably greater length, and to publish them together in 
their present form ; hoping they may exert some influence in 
overcoming the still prevalent but senseless prejudice against 
the seer of Stockholm, and may increase the growing interest 
in his writings among the reading and thinking classes. 

Mr. Beecher says that the "great Future to which we are 

going" — meaning the world which the soul enters when the 

body is laid aside — " is now all haze, with here and there a 

single point jutting out before us." To a large majority of 

Christians, no doubt it is. But it need not be so. It is not 

so to that small but steadily increasing band of believers 

who have become familiar with the writings of the Swedish 

sage. 

vii 



viii PREFACE. 

The author's aim has been, to show that a veritable revela- 
tion of the condition of things in the great Hereafter has 
actually been vouchsafed, and to vindicate Swedenborg's 
claim as a divinely authorized seer and revealer of the real- 
ities of the spiritual world. 

The Letters, though addressed to the esteemed pastor of 
Plymouth pulpit, are intended for the thoughtful and inquiring 
of all denominations — and of no denomination. The ques- 
tion they undertake to discuss, is one of exceeding interest 
and importance. And it is hoped the discussion has been 
conducted in such a spirit, and the argument presented with 
such force, as to produce a favorable impression upon the 
candid reader, and lead him ultimately to the crystal light of 
the New Jerusalem. More than this the author could not ask. 

B. F. B. 

West Philadelphia, 

Septe7nber I, 1872. 



CONTENTS. 



1. PAGB 

MR. BELCHER'S POSITION CRITICALL Y EXAMINED 13 

II. 

SWEDENBORG'S CLAIM— AND CREDIBILITY . . 24 

III. 

HIS PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT-SEEING -. . . .37 

IV. 

VINDICA TION OF HIS CLAIM 47 

Death and Resurrection 49 

Form of the Spirit 53 

Man Essentially a Spirit 55 

The Sun of Heaven 56 

Light and Heat in Heaven . . . . -57 

Objects Seen in Heaven ! 60 

The Essence of Heaven 62 

Many Societies in Heaven 65 

Heaven and the Church within the Soul . . 67 
The Whole Heaven Resembles a Man .' . .70 

Changes of State in Heaven 73 

Time and Space in Heaven 76 

Correspondence of Spiritual with Natural Things 81 

Houses in Heaven 87 

ix 



X CONTENTS. 

PAGB 

Governments in Heaven . . . . . .91 

Temples and Worship in Heaven . . . .93 

Speech of the Angels 95 

Danger in Speaking with Spirits . . . .99 

The Wisdom of the Angels 10 1 

Angelic Innocence 104 

Heavenly Peace 106 

Angels and Devils from the Human Race . .108 

A Heaven for Gentiles no 

Children in Heaven 113 

Rich and Poor in Heaven .118 

Marriages in Heaven . . . . . . .121 

Employments in Heaven 128 

The Happiness of Heaven 132 

The Life that Leads to Heaven . . , .143 

The Nature of Hell 147 

The Fire of Hell .151 

Appearance of the Devils . . . . .154 
The Lord does not cast into Hell . . . .155 
Man's Book of Life 159 

V. 

NEED AND TENDENCY OF HIS DISCLOSURES . . 164 

VI. 

COLLATERAL TESTIMONY , . . . . . .176 



" The great question which concerns us all, is that of immortality. 
Am I near the verge and end of myself ? Am I made to tick and 
keep the hours of this mortal sphere only ? When I am done here, 
shall I be run down forever, never to move again, or record the 
hours of time ? Or do I belong to the horology of the universe ? 
Passing through life, do I enlarge my sphere ? Do I fit myself to 
live more nobly, more fruitfully, with augmented sweep of being? " — 
Henry Ward Beecher. 

" An unclouded view of the spiritual world once disclosed, how 
solemn and yet how entrancing are its perspectives ! — and how near 
they come and open beneath our eye ! There is no death, but only 
the removal of deathly coverings ; the word vanishes from the Chris- 
tian vocabulary, and the thing it represented vanishes from the pros- 
pect of the Christian believer. For ourselves, we cannot raise to 
heaven a song too jubilant for this victory over the grave. All fear 
of mere death is removed; and that done, we can fix our undisturbed 
attention upon the only thing to be feared in any state of being, — the 
moral evil that glooms from within us, and clouds the landscape, and 
shuts out the smile of God." — Edmund H. Sears. 

xii 



Letters 

ON 

The Future Life. 



i. 

MR. BEE CHER'S POSITION CRITICAIL Y EXAMINED. 

My Dear Brother : — Thirteen years ago, I had oc- 
casion to write you some friendly letters on the sub- 
ject of the Divine Trinity. Your recent sermon on 
"The Hereafter, " -which I have just read in Plymouth 
Pulpit, moves me again to address you ; and to present 
some thoughts on this interesting subject which seem to 
me worthy of your consideration, and which I doubt not 
you will receive in the same friendly spirit in which they 
are written. If so, no harm can come from what I say, 
even though I should fail to impress you with my own 
convictions. The weak may sometimes aid the strong ; 
and little children, you know, may now and then drop 
hints from which wiser heads may profit. 

For fifteen years or more, I have been an interested 

reader of nearly all your published writings ; and I have 

often read and loaned and recommended them to others. 

I have generally found them interesting and instructive — 

2 13 



14 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

always pervaded by a free, earnest and catholic spirit, and 
abounding in the advanced thought of these New Times 
upon nearly all religious and theological questions. Per- 
haps you are not aware how closely most of your reli- 
gious beliefs and teachings resemble those of a great author 
who is fast coming into notice, but of whose writings the ma- 
jority of intelligent Christians are still profoundly ignorant. 

I mean Emanuel Swedenborg ; — a man of rare gifts 
and attainments, and whose writings furnish evidence, I 
think, of a higher spiritual enlightenment than was ever 
enjoyed by any other individual. Upon all the more im- 
portant and fundamental doctrines of the Christian reli- 
gion, I find in your teachings substantially the same views 
as those put forth by the great Swede more than a hundred 
years ago — widely different, however, from the views 
commonly recognized as orthodox in Swedenborg' s or 
even in our own times. This statement will, no doubt, 
surprise your friends — and possibly yourself; neverthe- 
less it is strictly true. 

On the central doctrine of Christianity — the. Divine 
Incarnation and true Object of religious worship ; on the 
supreme and sole divinity of Jesus Christ; on the nature 
and way of regeneration ; on men's various conceptions 
of God and the cause thereof, and how to form right con- 
ceptions of Him ; on the essential character of the Di- 
vine Being as consisting of perfect love and perfect wisdom 
— of love that is exercised alike toward the evil and the 
good ; on man's capability of becoming somewhat like 



MR. BEECHER'S POSITION EXAMINED. 1 5 

God, and how we are to grow into the Divine likeness ; 
on love to the Lord and the neighbor as constituting the 
essential thing in the Christian religion and in every true 
church — and how to develop and strengthen this love ; 
on the nature of the resurrection and the ministry of 
angels ; on the nature of true and practical religion and 
how it is to be attained ; on the highest kind of worship, 
as consisting in the conscientious and faithful performance 
of the duties of one's vocation ; on the great end of hu- 
man existence — to wit, the full and orderly development 
of all the noblest elements of human character — the 
development of the man into the angel ; on the momen- 
tous question of the proper religious education and train- 
ing of the young ; on the importance of social recreation 

— dancing, games, innocent amusements of all kinds — 
not only as things to be tolerated by Christians as harm- 
less, but things to be everywhere encouraged as useful ; 
on the breadth and comprehensiveness and catholicity of 
the Lord's true Church, and the endless variety to be ex- 
pected therein, as in all the rest of the Creator's works ; 
on forms and ordinances and institutions and rituals, and 
their comparative insignificance, and utter worthlessness 
save as means or helps in the formation of heavenly char- 
acter ; — on all these, and many other kindred topics, I 
generally find you in such substantial agreement with 
Swedenborg, that I reckon you as one of the most efficient 
instruments in the propagation of the New Christianity ; 

— all the more efficient from the fact that you have never 



1 6 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

taken on any new name, however you may have shaken off 
the old theology. 

But when you come to speak of the life after death, 
you fall ever so far below my expectations. You fail — 
please pardon this frankness — to do justice to yourself or 
your theme. Your discourse is meagre and comparatively 
barren. You rob death of none of its stings. You throw 
no cheerful light on that vast realm of being beyond the 
tomb. Your faith seems weak, your eye-sight dim, your 
foot-hold insecure. You are far less interesting and in- 
structive than you might be and ought to be. Your dis- 
course lacks power in the degree that your convictions 
lack clearness and strength. You are, according to your 
own confession, in such utter darkness concerning the life 
beyond the grave, that som^of your readers may, I fear, 
be led to doubt whether indeed there be any such life. 
You do not pretend to know what heaven is, or what hell 
is j what are the joys of the one, or the miseries of the 
other. 

Of course, then, you have no instruction to offer others 
concerning the state or condition of people in either of 
these kingdoms in the great Hereafter. You " infer' ' 
from the teaching of Christ and some of the apostles, 
" that we shall retain our identity in the other life; but," 
you add, " there is no explicit knowledge or teaching on 
this subject. ' ' And how far from certain you consider even 
this, may be inferred from your saying, " that when we 
come to live together again, much that we call our per- 



MR. BEE CHER'S POSITION EXAMINED. 1 7 

sonal identity here, will be left behind.' ' You do not 
know but "all the passions and appetites and imperfec- 
tions " — and sins, I suppose, though you do not say this 
— will drop off along with the material body, leaving to 
some of us very little, when we enter the other world, 
whereby our friends would be able to recognize us. You 
do not know whether those who die in infancy will remain 
forever in that diminutive and infantile form, or whether 
they will grow there to the full stature of manhood and 
womanhood; though you think "very likely " the latter. 
You do not know what is the condition of the wicked, any 
more than of the righteous, in the Hereafter ; though you 
feel constrained to teach on this subject what you find in 
the Bible (according to the spirit, or the letter?) — adding : 
"It is there; and if I am faithful to my whole duty I 
must preach it. As a surgeon does things that are most 
uncongenial to himself, so sometimes do I. And I do this 
with tears and with sorrow. It makes me sick. ' ' — Sermon 
on " Future Punishment" p. 109. 

In short, you confess yourself in almost total darkness 
respecting the spiritual world and all its grand realities. 
You say, in your sermon on "The Hereafter/' which 
has induced me to address you at this time : — 

" That great Future to which we are going is now 
all haze, with here and there a single point jutting out 
before us. 

" To those, then, who ask what are to be the conditions 
in the other life of the countless myriads of men who have 
2* B 



1 8 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

been going out of this world through countless ages, all 
the answer that can be given, is, We know not. We know 
not whether from other sources than this earth heaven is 
thronged and populated. We know not where heaven is. 
We know not what it is. It has not been revealed to us. 
There is not a word from the beginning of the Bible to 
the end, that can tell you definitely where heaven is, or 
what it is. (!) It is the place where the blessed are. 
Place ? That term smacks of physical matter ; and so far 
it is an imperfect term. Where the blessed are, is heaven; 
but whether it is near or far, whether it is above or below, 
we know not. We are not in a state to know. . . . You may 
say, 6 Thus fondly have I thought ; thus am I glad to be- 
lieve ; ' but nothing more have you permission to say." 

Again, in the same discourse : 

"We know not whether there are to be national divi- 
sions, communal groups, or anything such as we have here. 
The mode of future being transcends anything that we 
know. We are as unable to understand it as a dog is to 
understand the nature of a commonwealth. Go, try to ex- 
plain to the next intelligent creature below you all that you 
know of virtue, and disinterestedness, and love, and beauty. 
Explain a joke to a dog, if you can. Here are beings one 
or two ranks below you ; and it is absolutely impossible 
to explain to a lower state of faculty the qualities of a 
higher state, or of a higher class of faculties superinduced 
upon a lower one. We stand in the line of the same 
analogy ; and it is impossible to explain to us the evolve- 



MR. BEECHES* S POSITION EXAMINED. 1 9 

merits which come from new faculties, or from old facul- 
ties developed to such a degree that they are to all intents 
and purposes new to us." 

And again : 

"I believe that we shall know our children [in the 
Hereafter], as they shall know us — not only as well as we 
know them, but far better. Will they not have grown ? 
Very likely. I do not know. " I cannot say. ' ' 

" If you ask why God did not reveal more to us respect- 
ing the Hereafter, I reply by asking, Why do not you 
explain something of the domesticities of life to a dog ? 
He could not understand it if you did. And we could 
not understand that which relates to the future [life] if 
God should explain it to us." 

Hbw do you know we could not? — permit me to ask. 
How do you know but our life beyond the grave, is merely 
a continuation of the present life of our spirits ? — a more 
complete unfolding of our souls' capabilities and essential 
characteristics or ruling loves ? — necessitating, therefore, 
civil, social, industrial, and domestic arrangements in the 
other world so nearly allied to those in this, that we could 
not only understand but greatly profit by them if they 
were revealed to us ? Do you not see that, without some 
change of your present mental attitude, you would in- 
evitably deprive yourself, and others over whom you have 
influence, of the blessings of any revelation which God 
might be pleased to make concerning the Hereafter? You 
would render such a revelation, should it ever be made, 



20 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

altogether nugatory; for you would persuade yourself and 
others that it could not be from God, and therefore not 
true, because God would not attempt to explain what men 
are incapable of understanding. 

Then do you really believe that the death of # the body 
(which is the mere covering or husk of the spirit) works 
such a stupendous change in all our human characteristics 

— in our thoughts, dispositions, feelings, desires, motives 
and purposes — that we in the flesh are as incapable of 
understanding the condition (w r ere it revealed) of those in 
the other world, as dogs are incapable " of understanding 
the nature of a commonwealth," or of appreciating the 
amenities or " domesticities " of our human life? Such 
seems to be your meaning. But how can you be so un- 
reasonable and unphilosophical, not to say unscriptural ? 
For the angel, you remember, said to John, when he was 
in the spirit, "lam thy fellow-servant, and of thy breth- 
ren the prophets." This, certainly, is an acknowledg- 
ment of close relationship — of similarity, yes, of absolute 
identity, as to species, nature and essence. A man would 
hardly address such language as this of the angel to a dog 

— would he ? 

And so, consistently enough with your confessed igno- 
rance of nearly everything pertaining to the future life, you 
leave your ten thousand eager and inquiring readers to 
picture, each one for himself, such a condition of things 
in the Hereafter, as his own imagination may suggest. 
For you say that, in respect to "those- things which a 



MR. BEE CHER'S POSITION EXAMINED. 21 

mother's heart, or a father's heart, or a lover's heart, or a 
friend's heart craves to know, there is no answer. But 
you are left to your own liberty. As a poet is left to im- 
agine what he pleases, and as an artist is left to draw what 
he pleases, so you may imagine and draw what you please M 
concerning the life beyond the grave. 

And, according to the teaching of your sermon from 
which I have here quoted, men are to remain forever in 
this impenetrable darkness concerning the spiritual realm ? 
The inhabitants of this world will never know anything 
about that other world which they are here to prepare for, 
and in which they are to live forever ! If I understand 
you, God will never (in your opinion) make any disclos- 
ures concerning that world, because, if He should, men 
could not understand them any more than a dog " can 
understand the nature of a commonwealth, " or appreciate 
the sanctity of marriage. 

Yet we are taught to pray that the Lord's will may be 
done on earth as it is done in heaven. Are we, then, 
never to know how his will is done in heaven ? or how 
the angels live, and what is the chief source of their 
abounding joy? We are promised a time, too, when the 
Spirit of truth shall come, and shall guide men into all 
truth. Are you quite sure that " all truth " does not em- 
brace any truth concerning the life after death, or con- 
cerning the condition of things in the Hereafter? — truth 
which such multitudes of human hearts long to know ? 

Moreover, a time is prophesied of, when "the glory 



22 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

of the Lord shall be revealed"; when "the tabernacle 
of God shall be with men ; . . and God himself shall be 
with them, their God" ; when "the earth shall be full ( 
of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover the 
sea ' ' ; when the Lord Jesus will come again to our human 
world, that is, to the understandings and hearts of men — 
breaking through the clouds of Scripture, or the obscuring 
mists of its literal sense — with an illuminating power 
scarce dreamed of hitherto; or, as the prophecy reads, 
"with power and great glory." When the dawn of that 
glorious Era begins, are you sure that none of the old 
darkness which has so long hung over the tomb will be 
dispersed, and no new and rejoicing light concerning the 
great Hereafter be diffused among men ? Are you so sure 
of this that you would not look at or listen to any such 
alleged disclosure, however well authenticated might be 
its claim to a heavenly or even a divine origin ? If so, 
then you may deprive yourself and others of a grand in- 
heritance —- nay, of the richest boon which it is in God's 
power to bestow upon the children of men. 

Yet you say: "I know that we shall be as the angels 
of God; I know that we shall be satisfied, because we 
shall be like Him ; I know that we shall be sons of God." 
What ! — all of us? Shall we all be as the angels? — all 
be like God? — all be sons of God? — the righteous and 
the wicked? — the members of the Tammany and Erie 
"Rings," as well as the members of Plymouth church? 
This can hardly be your meaning. Yet there is nothing 
in your sermon to prevent your being so understood. 



MR. BEE CHER'S POSITION EXAMINED. 23 

But ta show that, after all, this declared knowledge 
about being "as the angels," "sons of God," etc., 
amounts to nothing, you immediately add: "Nobody can. 
now tell what that means." Strange knowledge, that 
which leaves a man in utter ignorance of the meaning of 
what he says he knows. And then, of what conceivable 
use can such knowledge be ? Suppose I am to be king 
some day, and I should say I know I shall be. But sup- 
pose I don't know the meaning of the expression; don't 
know whether to be king, means to be a pick-axe, a 
puppy, or a spirito-celestignifera ; of what practical value 
would such knowledge be to me or any one else, I won- 
der ? Would it stimulate me, or enlighten me, or help 
me in any way to prepare myself for the kingly office ? 

But already this letter has exceeded the limits I had 
prescribed. And yet I have scarcely reached the threshold 
of what I desire to say. I will only add here, that you 
are entirely mistaken in supposing that God has vouchsafed 
no revelation to men respecting their condition in the 
great Hereafter. He has made a very full revelation of 
the great facts and laws of the spiritual world, and of the 
condition of various classes of persons there. This, I 
think I may say, I know. And in a future communica- 
tion I will tell you how I know it — and shall invite your 
special attention to the revelation itself, or to some of the 
things contained therein. Meanwhile I remain, with the 
highest esteem, 

Your Friend and Brother, 

B. F. Barrett. 



II. 

SWEDENBOR&S CLAIM— AND CREDIBILITY. 

My Dear Brother : — In my previous letter, I said 
you are mistaken in supposing that God has vouch- 
safed no revelation concerning the life beyond the 
grave ; as you are, also, in thinking that if He should re- 
veal the condition of things in the other world, it would 
be useless, because the revelation would be quite beyond 
men's power of comprehension; would be like our at- 
tempting "to explain something of the domesticities of 
life to a dog." I maintain, contrary to your assertion, 
that God has made a very full revelation concerning the 
Hereafter. He has lifted the veil, and made known to 
all who are willing to accept the revelation, the great facts 
and laws of the spiritual world, showing the condition 
and manner of life of the various classes of persons who 
go there — the evil as well as the good. Of this I am 
confident ; and if you will allow me, I will give you some 
of the grounds and reasons for my confidence. 

I shall assume, in the outset, that there is a spiritual 
world, and that you believe in its reality. Its existence 
has been maintained by the best minds and most advanced 
thinkers in every age and nation. "All nations that are 
in any degree cultivated," says Jung Stilling, "possess 

24 



SWEDENBORCS CLAIM— AND CREDIBILITY. 2$ 

the fundamental idea of God, of a world of spirits, and 
of the immortality of the soul." Says the Chinese sage, 
Confucius, " How vast is the power of spirits ! An ocean 
of invisible Intelligences surrounds us. They are every- 
where above us, on the right hand and on the left. ' ' And 
Dr. Watts, speaking of the occasional appearance of spirits 
to men, says: "The multitude of narrations which we 
have heard of in all ages, of the apparitions of the spirits 
of persons departed from this life, can hardly be all delu- 
sion and falsehood.'' And nearly all the great masters in 
literature, both of ancient and modern times, especially 
the great poets — how fully do they recognize the ex- 
istence and reality of a spiritual world ! With what 
frequency and familiarity do they speak of invisible in- 
telligences, who are always present, and interested in the 
affairs of our world ! The great Greek and Roman epics 
are all aglow with this faith in a spiritual realm. In the 
Iliad and ^Eneid spiritual beings are introduced with as 
great freedom, and almost as much frequency, as mor- 
tals. And the same may be said of the works of Tasso 
and Ariosto, Dante and Goethe, Shakespeare and Milton, 
Wordsworth and Coleridge, Tennyson and Mrs. Brown- 
ing, Lowell and Longfellow. 

And throughout the Bible, often on every page, both 
good and bad spirits — angels and devils — are spoken of 
with the same freedom and familiarity as men. There is 
never expressed the shadow of a doubt about their reality, 
nor about their presence with men and their interest in 
3 



26 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

human affairs. Their existence is always assumed as if it 
were a universally admitted truth ; and no attempt is made 
to prove it. 

True, we read of a certain heretical sect, who main- 
tained that " there is neither angel nor spirit." And, 
consistently with this, the same sect also held "that 
there is no resurrection." But Christ rebuked them for 
their unbelief, telling them that Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob are still living — in the invisible world of spirits, 
of course. He assures them that, contrary to their idea, 
there is such a thing as the resurrection of the dead, and 
that these men have actually attained unto the resurrec- 
tion. This is his brief and conclusive argument : " Now 
that the dead are raised [not will be raised at some far 
distant day] even Moses showed at the bush." And how 
did Moses show this at the bush ? Why, by calling the 
Lord "the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and 
the God of Jacob." But what evidence does this furnish 
that these men were still living, and had already attained 
unto the resurrection ? Mark the conclusion of the Sa- 
viour's argument: "For He is not a God of the dead, 
but of the living ; for to Him all are living." As if he 
had said: "These men, it is true, have passed beyond 
the material realm. Our natural senses can take no cog- 
nizance of them. To our dull perceptions they no longer 
live. To us they seem dead and gone. Not so, how r ever, 
to Him whose eye penetrates all realms. He sees that 
these men (and all others who have disappeared from this 



SWEDENBORGS CLAIM— AND CREDIBILITY. 2/ 

sensuous sphere) are as truly alive now as they ever were. 
To Him, all human beings — whether in the flesh or out 
of the flesh — are alive ; and as truly alive out of as in it. 
According to the teaching of Moses, whom ye profess to 
believe, He is still their God ; and 'He is not a God of 
the dead, but of the living.' His all-piercing eye sees 
them in that spiritual realm where they now are, as dis- 
tinctly as it could in this realm of matter ; and He knows, 
therefore, that they are still alive. ' To Him, all are 
living.' M 

And not only does the Bible throughout assume the 
existence of angels and spirits, but it tells us, as you know, 
of their haying been often seen by men. Witness the 
angelophanies recorded in the Old Testament — the ap- 
pearance of angels to Abraham, Gideon, Manoah and 
others. Witness the appearance of Moses and Elias on 
the mount of transfiguration, hundreds of years after the 
death of their material bodies ; the appearance to Mary, 
also, of "two angels in white, sitting, the one at the head 
and the other at the feet where the body of Jesus had 
lain ; ' ' and the myriads of angels whom the beloved dis- 
ciple tells us he. heard and saw when he was "in the 
spirit." And that these were all human beings, who had 
once been denizens of this natural world, is evident from 
the answer John received, when he asked who they were 
and whence they came : " These are they who came out 
of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and 
made them white in the blood of the Lamb." 



28 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

The existence, then, of a spiritual realm, inhabited by 
a countless multitude of spirits who were once clothed 
with material flesh, being admitted, is it not reasonable to 
expect that God would, some time or other, disclose to 
mortals here below some of the grand realities of that 
realm? — its scenery, and the laws which underlie and 
determine it? — the appearance of its inhabitants, their 
character, manner of life, social arrangements, varied ac- 
tivities, and the chief source of their joys — and sorrows, 
too, if they have any ? To know how the angels live, or 
how the Lord's will is done in heaven — may not this 
be a means of helping us toward the attainment of the 
heavenly life ? And may not an accurate account of the 
condition of the wicked and their manner of life in the 
Hereafter, exert a powerful influence on the character and 
conduct of men on earth? — especially if the intimate 
connection between the two worlds be clearly revealed, 
and the life yonder be shown to be but a continuation and 
fuller unfolding of the life begun and the character estab- 
lished here. 

I put this interrogatively. But I am quite sure how you 
and every other sensible person will answer these ques- 
tions. I am sure your answer will agree with the experi- 
ence of the thousands who have already accepted the reve- 
lation which God has been pleased to make on this subject, 
and who know that they have been greatly enlightened, 
comforted and blessed thereby. 

Then the gloomy doubts and fears of thousands and 



SWEDENBORG'S CLAIM— AND CREDIBILITY. 29 

tens of thousands in regard even to the soul's immortal- 
ity, and the intense longing of millions of stricken hearts 
to know something positive and definite concerning that 
world to which their dearly loved ones have gone, added 
to some of your own sad confessions about the great 
Hereafter — may not these be accepted as among the 
sure prophecies that the darkness which has hitherto hung 
over the grave, will not always remain there ? 

But I affirm with much confidence that the veil has 
been lifted. The Lord has graciously revealed the grand 
realities of the spiritual world. And there is now no rea- 
son why any one should longer remain ignorant of the 
condition of things in the realm beyond the grave, unless 
he chooses to. Emanuel Swedenborg says : 

"Hitherto it has been unknown, even to Christians, 
that there is a spiritual world inhabited by spirits and 
angels, distinct from the natural w r orld inhabited by men. 
Lest, therefore, from ignorance of the existence of such a 
world, and the doubts respecting the reality of heaven 
and hell which result from such ignorance, men should be 
so infatuated as to become naturalists and atheists, it has 
pleased the Lord to open my spiritual sight, and, as to my 
spirit, to elevate me into heaven and let me down into 
hell, and to exhibit to my view the nature of both. It 
has thus been made evident to me that there are two 
worlds completely distinct from each other : one, called 
the spiritual world, all the objects of which are spiritual ; 
the other, called the natural world, all the objects of 

3* 



30 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

which are natural; also that spirits and angels live in their 
world, and men in theirs ; furthermore, that every man 
passes by death from his world into the other, wherein he 
lives forever. ' ' — Intercourse between the Soul and the 
Body, n. 3. 

Again he says, in his treatise on Heaven and Hell, n. 1 : 
* ' The man of the church at this day knows scarcely 
anything about heaven or hell, nor yet about his own life 
after death, although these things are all treated of in the 
Word ; nay, majiy even among those who were born 
within the church deny these things, saying in their 
hearts, Who has ever come thence and told us? Lest, 
therefore, such a negative principle, which rules espe- 
cially among those who possess much worldly wisdom, 
should also infect and corrupt the simple in heart and 
faith, it has been granted me to associate with angels and 
to converse with them as one man with another, and also 
to see the things which are in the heavens as well as those 
which are in the hells ; and this for the space of thirteen 
years, and so to describe these things from what I have 
myself seen and heard, — in the hope that ignorance may 
thus be enlightened and incredulity dissipated. The 
reason that such immediate revelation is made at this 
time, is, that this is what is meant by the coming of the 
Lord." 

Again, in a letter to Rev. Dr. Hartley, he says : 
" I have been called to a holy office by the Lord, who 
most graciously manifested himself in person to me his 



SWEDENBORG'S CLAIM— AND CREDIBILITY 3 1 

servant, in the year 1745, and then opened my sight into 
the spiritual world, and endowed me with the gift of con- 
versing with spirits and angels, which has been continued 
to me to this day. From that time I began to print and 
publish various arcana which have been either seen by 
me or revealed to me ; as concerning heaven and hell ; 
the state of man after death ; the true worship of God ; 
the spiritual sense of the Word ; and many other highly 
important matters tending to salvation and true wisdom.' ' 

Statements like the foregoing occur many times in the 
writings of the Swedish seer, and they are always made 
with equal clearness, simplicity, and positiveness. Now 
you, I presume, are familiar with the history and charac- 
ter of the man who sets up this extraordinary claim. 
Doubtless you have read his biography. And if so, you 
know that there never lived a person whose positive 
assertion was more worthy of credit than his. You know 
that he was a man of extensive and profound learning, 
of vast scientific attainments, and of the rarest sincerity, 
truthfulness and piety. You know that, in statements 
like those above cited, he is every whit as worthy to be 
believed as the apostle Paul or John. Professor Von 
Gdrres, of the University of Munich, says : 

" Swedenborg was not a man to be carried away by an 
unbridled imagination, still less did he ever manifest 
during his whole life the slightest symptom of mental 
aberration. . . He was in life and disposition so blameless, 
that no man dare ever intimate any suspicion of con- 



32 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

certed deception ; and posterity have no right to call into 
question the unsuspected testimony of those who lived 
in the same age as Swedenborg, and who knew him well : 
if this mode of judgment be permitted, all historical 
evidence, even the holiest and most venerable, might be 
reduced to nothing." 

And what is the testimony in regard to his character, 
furnished by his cotemporaries and acquaintance ? Carl 
Robsam, director of the bank of Sweden, knew him in- 
timately, and often visited him at his house. And he 
says : 

" He loved truth and justice in all his feelings and 
actions. He was not only a learned man and a gentle- 
man after the manner of the times, but a man so distin- 
guished for wisdom as to be celebrated throughout Eu- 
rope." 

Count Andrew Van Hopken, the prime minister of 
Sweden, speaks of him in a letter to General Tuxen, as 
"a, pattern of sincerity, of virtue, and of piety," and 
says : 

" I have not only known him these two and forty 
years, but have also for some time daily frequented his 
company. And I do not recollect to have ever known 
a man of more uniformly virtuous character than Swe- 
denborg; always contented, never fretful or morose, 
although throughout life his soul was occupied with 
sublime thoughts and speculations." 

Dr. Messiter, an eminent physician of London, who 



SWEDENBOR&S CLAIM— AND CREDIBILITY, 33 

also knew him intimately, says, in a letter to one of the 
professors in the Glasgow University : 

"I can with truth assert, that he is truly amiable in his 
morals, most learned and humble in his discourse, and 
superlatively affable, humane and courteous in his be- 
havior ; and this, joined with a solidity of understand- 
ing and penetration far above the level of an ordinary 
genius. 7 ' 

Rev. Dr. Hartley, himself a man of great sincerity and 
rare piety, was on terms of intimacy with him for many 
years ; and this is his testimony : 

"The great Swedenborg was a man of uncommon 
humility. He was of a catholic spirit, and loved all 
good men of every church, making at the same time all 
candid allowance for the innocence of involuntary error. 
... It may reasonably be supposed that I have weighed 
the character of our illustrious author in the scale of my 
best judgment, from the personal knowledge I had of 
him, from the best information I could procure respecting 
him, and from a diligent perusal of his writings; and 
according thereto I have found him to be the sound di- 
vine, the good man, the deep philosopher, the universal 
scholar, and the polite gentleman ; and I further believe 
that he had a high degree of illumination from the Spirit 
of God, was commissioned by Him as an extraordinary 
messenger to the world, and had communication with 
angels and the spiritual world far beyond any since the 
time of the apostles. " 

C 



34 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

Another cotemporary and intimate acquaintance says 
of him : 

" He was of such a nature that he could impose on no 
one. He always spoke the truth in every little matter, 
and would not have made any evasion though his life 
had been at stake." 

Such is the uniform testimony of the great seer's 
cotemporaries and acquaintance, to his exalted wisdom 
and learning, and his rare truthfulness, sincerity, humil- 
ity and piety. No one who knew him, ever had any 
counter testimony to offer. And in perfect harmony with 
this, are the following " Rules of Life/ 7 which were found 
after his decease noted down in several of his manu- 
scripts — evidently intended for private use, as we no- 
where meet with them in his published works : — 

i. "Often to read and meditate on the Word of the 
Lord. 

2. "To submit everything to the will of Divine Prov- 
idence. 

3. "To observe in everything a propriety of behavior, 
and always to keep the conscience clear. 

4. "To discharge with fidelity the functions of my 
employment and the duties of my office, and to render 
myself in all things useful to society/ ' 

Such was the character of the man, who has solemnly 
declared more than a hundred times that his spiritual 
senses were opened, and that he was thereby intromitted 
into the spiritual world, and permitted, for the space of 



SWEDENBORG'S CLAIM— AND CREDIBILITY. 35 

nearly thirty years, to see and converse with angelic and 
infernal spirits, and so to learn all about the great Here- 
after — or the condition of both the righteous and the 
wicked in the life beyond the grave. 

Now if Paul's statement about his being caught up to 
the third heaven on a certain occasion, or his account of 
the wonderful experience he had on his way to Damas- 
cus, is to be accepted as altogether credible (and you, I 
presume, do not think of questioning his word, or his per- 
fect sanity), I submit that Swedenborg's solemn and oft- 
repeated declaration about his intromission into the spir- 
itual world, and his long and open intercourse with both 
angels and devils, is not a whit less credible. What good 
reason has any candid mind to offer for accepting the 
testimony of the great apostle, and ruling out that of the 
Swedish seer ? Can you give any ? 

Suppose our own Washington, or Franklin, or any other 
distinguished and upright x\merican citizen, had solemnly 
and repeatedly declared that, every day for the space of 
six years or more, he had, in a state of full wakefulness, 
seen and conversed with the spirits of several deceased 
friends, as men see and converse with each other. And 
suppose he had left a complete record of such experi- 
ence j what should we say of it ? Should we pronounce 
it incredible, because such alleged experience is unusual? 
Or should we say the man was deranged ? — or that 
he was dreaming ? I doubt if you would say either. If 
not, why, then, should Swedenborg's testimony respect- 



36 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

ing his own experience be rejected as incredible, or as 
evidencing some mental aberration ? 

But what, I hear you ask, has this alleged seer told us 
about the Hereafter? What has he revealed respecting 
the future life? Let us look at his alleged disclosures, 
and see whether they are worthy of the origin claimed 
for them. Perhaps the revelation itself will enable us to 
judge of the sanity or insanity — the credibility or incred- 
ibility — of the seer. Undoubtedly it will. And I shall, 
in a future communication, invite your candid attention 
to a few of the things concerning the other world, which, 
according to Swedenborg's declaration and my own be- 
lief, the Lord has graciously revealed through him. 
Meanwhile, I remain, as ever, 

Your Friend and Brother, 

B. F. Barrett. 



III. 

HIS PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT-SEEING. 

My Dear Brother : — In my last letter I told you 
what Swedenborg claims, or what he professes to have 
been divinely commissioned to reveal. He declares, as 
you saw from the passages quoted (and similar declarations 
are of frequent occurrence in his writings), that it had 
pleased the Lord to open his spiritual senses, and thus to 
intromit him into the spiritual world, and enable him to 
make a true revelation of the realities of that world ; — to 
tell us, from his long and open intercourse with spirits 
and angels, what is the . actual condition in the Hereafter 
of both the righteous and the wicked. Doubtless you 
will admit that the revelation he professes to make, or 
the information he pretends to give, is very desirable, and 
may be of great practical moment. But is it true ? is the 
question. And how can we be satisfied, either of its truth 
or falsity ? This is the inquiry which, I doubt not, sug- 
gests itself to your mind and that of every other thought- 
ful Christian. The inquiry is at once natural and perti- 
nent. And while I hope to answer it satisfactorily before 
concluding this series of letters, I shall in the present 
epistle take but a single step in that direction. 

4 37 



38 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

If Swedenborg's pretended disclosures concerning the 
other world, or the condition of various classes of per- 
sons there, be not true, then he must have been a most 
villanous impostor, or must have labored under a strange 
hallucination ; and this, too, for the space of nearly thirty 
years. But the testimony which all his cotemporaries 
arid acquaintance bear to the rare simplicity, sincerity 
and truthfulness of his character, forbid the idea of any- 
thing like imposture. This, I am sure, must be the ver- 
dict of every candid mind that will read what his biog- 
raphers have written. From the testimony cited in my 
last letter — summary as it was — you will admit, I think, 
that no man ever lived who was more deserving of entire 
credit in statements like those in question, than Sweden- 
borg. I submit that the well-known character of the 
man, renders it impossible that he could have knowingly 
and intentionally deceived. Not James nor John nor 
Paul, nor any other of the apostles, was more honest or 
truthful than Swedenborg .; nor 'his statements touching 
his own experience, or any facts that he may have ob- 
served, more worthy of credit. 

But leaving his truthfulness or credibility quite out of 
the question, and looking entirely at the revelation itself, 
to what conclusion are we brought? Do we find here 
any evidence of imposture or delusion ? — any traces of 
hallucination, or of a wild and wayward fancy ? So far 
from it, I believe, and trust I shall be able to show, that 
the character of his disclosures proves the claim set up 



PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT-SEEING. 39 

for them as a veritable revelation of the condition of things 
in the spiritual world, to be well-founded. And in this I 
find myself supported by the belief and testimony of 
thousands who have examined the revelation thoroughly 
enough to understand it ; and among these are some of 
the clearest, strongest, acutest and most logical minds 
in Christendom. In his account of "things heard and 
seen" in the spiritual world, the Swedish seer has given 
us a pneumatology so grand, beautiful, rational and 
philosophical, and in such entire harmony with the teach- 
ings of Scripture, the known laws of the human soul, 
and our highest conceptions of the Divine wisdom and 
love as well as of the life beyond the grave, that it is 
impossible for an intelligent and candid mind not to ac- 
cept it as true, so soon as he thoroughly understands it. 
In my next letter I shall adduce the bulk of the evidence 
I intend to offer going to authenticate his extraordinary 
claim. 

At present I invite your attention merely to the manner 
of his intromission into the spiritual world, as explained 
by himself. He says it was through the opening of his 
spiritual senses that he was enabled to hold visible and 
audible communication with spirits, and to see and de- 
scribe the things of their world. The spirit of man, ac- 
cording to his teaching, is a spiritual organism, composed 
of spiritual substance as the body is of material sub- 
stance ; and is in the human form. It has arms, hands, 
legs, feet, and all the other members that belong to the 



40 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

material body. It is also endowed with the senses of 
seeing, hearing, feeling, etc., far more acute and perfect, 
too, than the bodily senses. But these senses (for wise 
and excellent reasons which he explains) are ordinarily 
closed while the spirit tabernacles in the flesh ; yet they 
may be, and often have been, opened in men while living 
in this material realm. And when opened, a person can 
see and hear spirits as plainly as we can see and hear 
each other ; and can discern the objects of their world as 
clearly as we, with our natural eyes, can discern the ob- 
jects of this. 

This explains the philosophy of spirit-seeing, according 
to the teaching of the great Swede. Spirits are not seen 
with the same eyes as people and objects round about us 
in this world are seen ; but with the eyes of the spirit 
which are usually closed, though they may be as suddenly 
and as quietly opened as our bodily eyes. In this way 
people in the natural world have frequently seen the 
spirits of their deceased friends in the spiritual world; 
not knowing, however, at the time, but they were seeing 
them with their natural eyes. This is the explanation of 
the angelophanies of which the Bible makes such frequent 
mention. It was in this way that the women saw the 
angels at the sepulchre of our Lord; that the Judean 
shepherds beheld that "multitude of the heavenly host," 
and heard their celestial anthem ; that the disciples on the 
mount of transfiguration saw Moses and Elias, and the face 
of Jesus shining as the sun ; that Paul, when on his way 



PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT-SEEING, 41 

to Damascus, saw, as he tells us (and it was "at mid- 
day, M observe), "a light from heaven above the bright- 
ness of the sun; " and that the seer of Patmos saw myr- 
iads of angels, and heard their hallelujahs. 

Now I submit that this is the most rational and philo- 
sophical explanation of spirit-seeing that has ever been 
given. Since man is immortal, and we are assured by 
the great apostle that "there is a natural body and there 
is a spiritual body," and that this latter is what rises or 
comes into a state of full wakefulness when the former is 
laid aside, it is easy to believe that the spirit has senses 
which are opened when the body dies ; and which may be 
opened and occasionally are opened in persons yet living 
in the flesh. This theory shows us, too, why it is that 
spirits, when seen, appear so suddenly, and as suddenly 
vanish. The opening of the spiritual eyes causes them to 
appear, and the shutting of these eyes causes them to 
vanish; just as natural objects reveal themselves to us as 
soon as our bodily eyes are opened, and disappear the in- 
stant these eyes are shut. 

Then see how well Paul's remarkable experience agrees 
with what Swedenborg says about the light of the 
spiritual world, and the sun there ; and how easy of expla- 
nation it is upon his theory of pneumatology. He says : 
"The light in heaven exceeds the noon-day light of this 
world in a degree surpassing all belief. The heavenly 
inhabitants, however, receive no light from this world, 
because they are above or within the sphere of that light 
4* 



42 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

[being in a purely spiritual realm] ; but they receive light 
from the Lord, who is to them a sun." {Arcana Cczlestia, 
n. 1521.) Again he says : "The sun of heaven is the Lord; 
the light there is divine truth, and the heat is divine good 
[or love], both of which proceed from the Lord as a sun." 
(Heaven and Hell, n. 117.) And that sun being, as he 
says, immensely more brilliant than the sun of our world, 
we have only to suppose that Paul's spiritual eyes were 
suddenly opened even to the celestial degree, to under- 
stand how there could appear to him, "at mid-day, a 
light from heaven above the brightness of the sun, ' ' 

The same theory, too, furnishes us with an easy and 
philosophical explanation of the Saviour's appearance to 
Peter, James and John on the mount of transfiguration, 
when, as the record says, " his face did shine as the sun, 
and his raiment was white as the light ; ' ' also of his ap- 
pearance to John in Patmos, when "his eyes were as a 
flame of fire; . . . and his countenance was as the sun 
shineth in his strength." And observe, this appearance 
is said to have occurred to the beloved disciple when 
he was te £n the spirit" —language clearly indicating that 
the manifestation occurred in a realm within or above the 
natural. 

And not only is Swedenborg's theory in regard to spirit- 
intercourse the only rational and philosophical one I have 
ever met with, but it is abundantly sustained by the Scrip- 
ture record. The Bible clearly recognizes both the ex- 
istence of spiritual senses in men, and the possibility of 



PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT-SEEING. 43 

these senses being opened — yea, the fact that they have f 
actually been opened. Take, for example, the case re- 
corded in 2 Kings, 6th chapter. When "the servant of 
the man of God," having risen early in the morning, 
beheld the armed host which had been sent to Dothan to 
capture one poor prophet, he cried out, "Alas, my mas- 
ter ! How shall we do ? " And the prophet answered : 
" Fear not; for they that be with us are more than they 
that be with them. And Elisha prayed and said : Lord, I 
pray thee, open his eyes that he may see. And the Lord 
opened the eyes of the young man, and he saw; and be- 
hold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire 
round about Elisha." 

Now what kind of eyes did "the man of God " refer 
to in his prayer, and what kind of eyes do you think were 
opened in his servant on that occasion ? Can there be 
any doubt that they were the eyes of his spirit? The 
agencies of Divine Providence which engirded the 
prophet, and no doubt were visible to him, were at first 
unseen by his servant ; and no wonder that the latter cried 
out as he did, when he beheld the Syrian host by which 
the town was beleaguered. But soon as his spiritual eyes 
were opened, he saw, in the inner realm of spirits, his 
master's strong defence, represented by the mountain 
" full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha; M 
for " all things seen in the spiritual world," says Sweden- 
borg, "are representative and significative." 

We see, then, that the explanation which the seer has 



44 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

given us of the philosophy of spirit-seeing, and of the 
manner of his own intromission into the spiritual realm, 
is at once rational and Scriptural. It furnishes an easy 
explanation, also, of the angelophanies recorded in the 
Bible, and of the numerous and well-authenticated cases 
of the visible manifestation "of spirits to men, which 
history records. And it is the only explanation I have 
ever met with, which fully satisfies the demands of 
reason. 

A rational theory of pneumatology, I submit, is one of 
the great needs of the Christian churches of to-day. There 
is scarcely anything which they need so much. They 
need it to enable them to accept, and to know how to 
deal wisely with, the substantial facts of modern spirit- 
ualism. You need it yourself, my brother, more than 
almost anything else. It would add immensely to the 
power and effectiveness of your preaching, as well as to 
the satisfaction, joy and spiritual edification of your nu- 
merous hearers and readers. And such a theory, rely 
upon it, you will find fully unfolded in Swedenborg's 
treatise pn Heaven and Hell — a work which should be 
carefully read and studied by every Christian minister. 
The part on Heaven contains more than forty chapters, 
of which the following are some of the headings : 

"The Divine of the Lord makes heaven." "The 
Divine of the Lord in heaven is love to him and charity 
toward the neighbor." "Heaven consists of innumera- 
ble societies.' ' "Every society in heaven resembles one 



PHILOSOPHY OF SPIRIT-SEEING. 45 

man." " The sun in heaven.' ' "Light and heat in 
heaven/ ' "The garments with which the angels ap- 
pear clothed." "The habitations and mansions of the 
angels." " Divine worship in heaven." "The speech 
of the angels." "Writings in heaven." "The wisdom 
of the angels." "The state of peace in heaven." 
"Heaven and hell are from the human race." "The 
rich and poor in heaven." "Gentiles [people outside 
of Christendom] in heaven." "Infants in heaven." 
"Employments of the angels." "Heavenly joy and 
happiness." 

Now if you will read attentively any one of these 
chapters, and bring all the best powers of your under- 
standing and the finest intuitions of your heart, to- 
gether with all known truth and your highest conceptions 
of the wisdom and love of God, to bear upon it, you 
will, I think, be constrained to say, "Verily, that must 
be so. I see here not one of the signs of fanaticism or 
delusion. Every sentence bears the impress of truth and 
soberness. All that is here related, accords with reason 
and Scripture and the known laws of the human soul, as 
well as with my highest conception of the character of 
God, and of his ultimate design in the creation of man. 
It is but the normal and beautiful blossoming forth of 
regenerate souls when released from their earthly wrap- 
pages." 

And as you read, please remember that Swedenborg is 
not here giving us his own fancies or speculations, or the 



46 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

conclusions of his understanding merely ; but is telling 
us (and you will admit that a more truthful man than he 
never lived) of "things heard and seen, 11 and in this 
manner learned, when his spiritual senses were opened. 
And what he relates on several of these subjects*— though 
very different from the popular belief at the time he lived 
and wrote — is so reasonable in itself, that it is generally 
accepted by the best minds in nearly all the churches of 
to-day* though scarcely one in fifty, perhaps, is aware 
that the truth he accepts on these subjects, and which 
seems so obvious in the light of the present day, was 
unknown and unrecognized until revealed through Swe- 
denborg. 

But the question, after all, whether we have a true and 
divinely authorized revelation of the Hereafter — that is, 
of the state of life beyond the grave — can best be an- 
swered by the revelation itself. I shall, therefore, in my 
next letter, invite your candid attention to some of the 
things contained in this alleged revelation; and shall 
leave you to judge whether, in view of their intrinsic rea- 
sonableness and important practical bearings, the revela- 
tion itself is to be regarded as spurious or genuine. 
Meanwhile, I remain 

Truly and Affectionately your Brother, 

B. F. Barrett. 



IV. 

VINDICATION OF HIS CLAIM. 

My Dear Brother : — Let me advise you at once, 
that the present letter will be a long one — longer, prob- 
ably, than you will care to read at one sitting. But you 
will not, I trust, be deterred by its length from giving it 
a patient and careful perusal. I think it will interest, 
and hope it may profit you ; as I shall herein spread be- 
fore you a considerable amount of evidence (not a tithe, 
however, of what might be offered), in vindication of 
Swedenborg's extraordinary claim ; — evidence of the 
best kind, too, because drawn from the disclosures them- 
selves which he claims to have been divinely authorized 
to make. 

You know the nature and extent of his claim — from 
my previous letters, if not from a perusal of the seer's own 
writings. You know he professed to have been so illu- 
mined by the Holy Spirit, as to be able to understand and 
explain the spiritual meaning of God's Word; and to have 
had his spiritual senses opened for the space of nearly 
thirty years, whereby he was enabled to hold visible and 
audible communication with the denizens of the other 
world during that long period. And you know what 

47 



48 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

kind of a man he was. You know he was incapable of 
deliberate falsehood. No candid mind ever did or ever 
will harbor the suspicion of anything like wilful impos- 
ture in his case. 

But he may have been self-deceived — honestly so. He 
may have innocently labored under a strange hallucina- 
tion. He may have thought that he saw people and 
objects in the spiritual world — that he saw and conversed 
with angels and devils — when in reality it was but the 
effect of his own imagination. This, no doubt, is the 
opinion of many honest people at the present day, who 
are not familiar with his writings. Possibly your own 
mind may rest in this conclusion. 

And what is the best way to settle the question ? How 
are we to know whether his alleged disclosures concern- 
ing the other world, be facts or fancies ? — whether they 
be a veritable and divinely authorized revelation, or the 
ingenious coinings of the man's own brain — the products 
of a vivid but wild and wayward imagination? I an- 
swer : By a careful examination of the revelation itself; 
surveying it in the light of Scripture, reason, historical 
facts, human experience and the known laws of the hu- 
man soul. Is not this the fair and the only fair way of 
reaching a just conclusion in the case ? 

If a man should come and say to you : " Mr. Beecher, 
I have discovered a mine of gold on the south-west cor- 
ner of your farm ; ' ' you might be excused, perhaps, for 
doubting his word, even though his reputation for truthful- 



VINDICATION OF HIS CLAIM. 49 

ness were well established. But if he should offer to take 
you to the spot, dig up the sand and sift out the grains 
before your eyes; quarry the rocks and show you the 
nuggets ; and, that you might know that it was pure gold 
and nothing else, should invite you to take some speci- 
mens to the laboratory, and there subject them to the 
recognized chemical tests; and if, instead of accepting 
his invitation, you should turn away with a shrug, saying, 
"Impossible ! Nothing of the sort has ever been told me 
before. There can't be any gold on my farm. It is all 
in your eye. The mere offspring of a lively imagina- 
tion ; " would you be acting wisely or reasonably? I 
think not. 

Let me ask you, then, my dear brother, to examine 
carefully the extracts I shall here lay before you; to subject 
them to all the known tests of rational and spiritual truth ■ 
and then say whether they look like the speculations of an 
innocent dreamer and the utterances of a fanatic, or — what 
they boldly claim to be — a veritable revelation from God 
out of heaven concerning the life beyond the grave. 
And bear in mind that these extracts are taken from the 
work entitled, "Heaven and its Wonders; and Hell. 
From things heard and seen. ' ' 

DEATH AND RESURRECTION 

Hear, first, what the seer has to say about the nature of 
the resurrection. You know what doctrine was held on 
5 D 



50 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE, 

this subject at the time he lived and wrote. It was, that 
the bodies we now have — our material bodies which are 
laid off at death — are one day to be raised to life again, 
and reunited to our souls. This was what Christians un- 
derstood by the resurrection. Many religious teachers 
still hold this doctrine. But you do not. For in your ser- 
mon on " The Hereafter " you say : 

" There is to be a body raised ; but it is not to be a 
physical body. It is to be a spiritual body." And in 
another of your printed discourses, I find the following : 

u We are not going to carry this body into the other 
life. There has been a vast amount of speculation and 
misapprehension upon this subject, it seems to me. . . . 
We are to have bodies in heaven, but not these bodies. 
If there can be anything definitely stated in the Latin, or 
in the Greek, or in any other language, it seems to me 
that this declaration of the Apostle is a positive state- 
ment : ' Flesh and blood shall not inherit the kingdom 
of God.' Now to tell me that we shall have these bodies, 
but that they shall have no flesh and blood, is to play upon 
words/' 

And you will find among the more advanced religious 
thinkers of to-day, many to agree with you in this — 
although it is not, as you are well aware, the recognized 
orthodox doctrine of the resurrection. Thus the Rev. 
Mr. Sears, in his beautiful " Foregleams of Immortality,' ' 
says: 

"The artificial theologies do not make the resurrection 



DEA TH AND RESURRECTION. $ I 

of man a fact included under the operation of any law 
whatsoever, but a monstrosity thrust in among the orderly 
operations of the Deity. They make it not only a miracle, 
but a miracle wrought mechanically, and not spiritually. 
The idea of God coming down to the cemeteries, and, 
potter-like, building up from their contents a set of human 
frames externally, and putting spirits into them afterward, 
is shocking enough, if we had not long ceased to be 
shocked by the fantasies of religious naturalism." — p. 80. 

Again, in the same work : — ■ 

" The natural body is not the man, nor any essential 
part of him. The spirit itself is an immqrtal organism, 
folded in by its clay coverings in order, for probationary 
purposes, to hold connection awhile with material things. 
It is the most real part of man, since nearer in degree 
and kindred to the eternal realities. The resurrection is 
the emergence of the immortal being in a spiritual body 
out of material conditions, when first it has open rela- 
tions with a spiritual world, and is set face to face with 
spiritual things." — p. 174 

Now this (which seems to be your own idea) is pre- 
cisely the doctrine promulgated by Swedenborg more than 
a hundred years ago ; for he wrote : 

"The spirit of man, after the dissolution of the body, 
is a man in all respects, except that he is not encompassed 
with the gross body which he had in the world. This 
he leaves when he dies, nor does he ever resume it. This 
continuation of life [or awakening to consciousness in the 



$2 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE, 

spiritual world] is meant by the resurrection." (N. J. D. 
225-6.) When the body dies, " the man is said to die ; 
but still the man does not die/ but is only separated from 
the corporeal part which was of use to him in the world ; 
for the man himself lives.' ' — Heaven and Hell, n. 445. 

And in perfect agreement with this, is the following 
which he relates from his own personal observation : 

"The interiors belonging to my spirit have been opened 
by the Lord, and thus I have been permitted to converse 
with all whom I have ever known in the life of the body, 
— after their decease ; with some for days, with some 
for months, and with some for a year ; and with others 
also, — so many that I should not exaggerate were I to 
say a hundred thousand, — of whom many were in the 
heavens and many in the hells. I have also conversed 
with some two days after their decease, and have told 
them that preparations were now being made for their in- 
terment. They replied, that their friends did well to 
reject that which had served them for a body and its uses 
in the world ; and they wished me to say, that they were 
not dead but alive, being men now just the same as before ; 
that they had only migrated from one world to another; 
that they were not conscious of having lost anything, 
since they were in a body and in the possession of bodily 
senses as before, and in the enjoyment of understanding 
and will as before ; and that they had thoughts, affections, 
sensations, and desires, similar to those which they had in 
the world. 



FORM OF THE SPIRIT. S3 

"Most of those recently deceased, when they saw that 
they were still alive and men as before, and in a similar 
state, (for after death every one's state of life is at first 
such as it had been in the world, but that is gradually 
changed either into heaven or into hell,) were affected 
with new joy at being alive, and declared that they had 
not believed this. But they wondered very much that 
they should have lived in such ignorance and blindness 
concerning the state of their life after death ; and espe- 
cially that the man of the church should be in such ig- 
norance and blindness." — H. H. 312. 



FORM OF THE SPIRIT 

You know that the prevailing idea among Christians in 
Swedenborg's time was, that the soul or spirit of man was 
a subtle essence, an ethereal vapor, a thinking principle 
without organization, substance, or form of any kind. 
But can you conceive of a being capable of faith, hope, 
and charity, — capable of thinking, reasoning, rejoicing, 
and loving, without some kind of an organized form? 
Or can you conceive of a being endowed with human 
capacities without possessing the human form ? I cannot. 

The following is Swedenborg's testimony on this sub- 
ject — very different, you observe, from the current belief 
of his day : 

" That the spirit of man after its separation from the 
body is itself a man, and similar in form, has been proved 
5* 



54 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

to me by the daily experience of many years ; for I have 
seen, heard, and conversed with spirits thousands of times, 
and have even talked with them on the prevailing dis- 
belief that spirits are men ; and have told them that the 
learned regard those as simple who think so. The spirits 
were grieved at heart that such ignorance still continues 
in the world, and especially within the church. But they 
remarked that this infidelity had emanated chiefly from 
the learned, who have thought of the soul from their cor- 
poreal-sensual apprehensions, and thence have concluded 
that it is mere thought, which, when viewed without any 
subject in and from which it exists, is like a volatile breath 
of pure ether, which cannot but be dissipated when the 
body dies. This is the foundation of the prevailing doc- 
trine of the resurrection, and of the belief that the soul 
and body will be again united at the time of the last 
judgment." 

" It is worthy of remark that the human form of every 
man after death is the more beautiful, the more interiorly 
he had loved divine truths and had lived according to 
them ; for the interiors of every one are opened and 
formed according to his love and life ; wherefore the 
more interior is the affection, the more conformable it is 
to heaven, and hence the more beautiful is the face. 
Therefore the angels of the inmost heaven are the most 
beautiful, because they are forms of celestial love." ■— 
Ibid. 456-9. 



MAN ESSENTIALL Y A SPIRIT. 5 5 



MAN ESSENTIALL Y A SPIRIT 

And if the soul is in the human form, and is capable 
of thinking, reasoning and loving, after its separation 
from the body, what is more reasonable than to believe 
that it is an exquisite spiritual organism, endowed with 
the senses of seeing, hearing, feeling, etc., and these very 
acute and perfect ? Accordingly Swedenborg says : 

"The soul of man, about the immortality of which so 
many have written, is his spirit ; for this is immortal as 
to all that pertains to it. It is this which thinks in the 
body, for it is spiritual ; and what is spiritual lives spirit- 
ually, which is to think and will. 

"Since everything that lives in the body, and from 
life acts and feels, belongs exclusively to the spirit, and 
nothing of it to the body, it follows that the spirit is the 
real man ; or, what is the same, that man considered in 
himself is a spirit, and that the spirit is also in a form 
similar to that of the body ; for whatever lives and feels 
in man belongs to his spirit — and everything in him, 
from his head to the sole of his foot, lives and feels. 

"Man cannot see without an organ which is the sub- 
ject of his sight j nor hear without an organ which is the 
subject of his hearing. Sight and hearing are nothing 
without these, nor can they exist. It is the same also 
with thought, which is internal sight ; and with percep- 
tion, which is internal hearing. Unless these existed in 



56 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

and from substances which are organic forms that are the 
subjects of those faculties, they could not exist at all. 

" From these considerations it is manifest that the spirit 
of man is in a form as well as his body ; and that its form 
is the human; and that it enjoys sensories and senses 
when separated from the body, the same as when it was 
in it; and that all the life of the eye and ear, in a word, 
all the sensitive life that man enjoys, belongs not to his 
body but to his spirit; for his spirit dwells in them and 
in every minutest part thereof. Hence it is that spirits 
see, hear and feel, the same as men ; but after separation 
from the body, not in the natural but in the spiritual 
world."— Ibid. 432-434. 



THE SUN OF HE A VEN 

If the spiritual world is a real world, we might reason- 
ably expect there would be a sun there ; and that the sun, 
like all else belonging to that world, would be spiritual 
in its nature. Such expectation, moreover, seems justi- 
fied — does it not? — by the experience of the apostle 
Paul, the seer of Patmos, and the disciples on the mount 
of transfiguration. So Swedenborg, speaking from his 
personal observation and experience, says : 

" The sun of the world does not appear in heaven, nor 
anything which exists from that sun. Yet there is a sun 
there, and light, and heat, and all things which are in 
the world, and a great many more, but not from a similar 
origin ; for the things which exist in heaven are spiritual, 



LIGHT AND HE A T IN HE A VEN. 5 J 

and those which exist in the world are natural. The sun 
of heaven is the Lord. The light there is divine truth, 
and the heat is divine good, both of which proceed from 
the Lord as a sun. From that origin are all things which 
exist and appear in heaven. The Lord appears in heaven 
as a sun, because He is the divine love from which all spir- 
itual things exist, as all natural things exist by means of the 
sun of this world. It is that love which shines as a sun. 

" That the Lord actually appears in heaven as a sun, 
has not only been told me by the angels, but has also 
been given me occasionally to see." — Ibid. 117, 118. 

And in his Arcaiia Codestia, he speaks of the intense 
brightness of this sun, as follows : 

" The light in heaven is such as to exceed the noon- 
day light of this world in a degree surpassing all belief. 
The heavenly inhabitants, however, receive no light 
from the world, because they are above or within the 
sphere of that light ; but they receive light from the Lord 
who is their sun." n. 1521. 



LIGHT AND HEAT IN HEAVEN. 

Both reason and Scripture, too, warrant the conclusion 
that there must be light and heat in the spiritual world. 
And these, like the sun from which they emanate, should 
be spiritual, should they not? This, at least, is the 
rational conclusion. But what says the Swedish seer 
about it ? Hear him : 

"That there is light in heaven cannot be com pre- 



58 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

hended by those who think only from nature ; when yet 
the light there is so great, as to exceed by many degrees the 
mid-day light of the world. I have often seen it, even 
in the evening and night. At first I wondered when I 
heard the angels say, that the light of the world is little 
more than shade in comparison with the light of heaven; 
but since I have seen it, I can testify that it is so. Its 
whiteness and brilliancy surpass all description. The 
things seen by me in heaven, were seen in that light ; 
thus more clearly and distinctly than things in the world. 

"The light of heaven is not natural like that of the 
world, but spiritual ; for it proceeds from the Lord as a 
sun. That which proceeds from the Lord as a sun, is 
called in heaven divine truth, although in its essence it is 
divine good united to divine truth. Hence the angels 
have light and heat ; light from the divine truth, and heat 
from the divine good. From this consideration it is evi- 
dent that the light and heat of heaven are rtot natural but 
spiritual from their origin. 

" Divine truth is light to the angels, because they are 
spiritual and not natural. Spiritual beings see from their 
sun, and natural beings from theirs. Divine truth is the 
source whence the angels have understanding, and under- 
standing is their internal sight which flows into and pro- 
duces their external sight. Hence the things which 
appear in heaven from the Lord as a sun, appear in light. 
Such being the origin of light in heaven, therefore it va- 
ries according to the reception of divine truth from the 
Lord; or — what is the same — according to the intelli- 



LIGHT AND HE A T IN HE A VEN. $g 

gence and wisdom of the angels. It is therefore different 
in the celestial kingdom from what it is in the spiritual, 
and different in each society. 

" Something shall now be said concerning the heat of 
heaven. — The heat of heaven in its essence is love. It 
proceeds from the Lord as a sun : and that this is the di- 
vine love in the Lord and from Him, has been shown in 
the preceding chapter. Hence it is evident that the heat 
of heaven is spiritual as well as its light ; for it is from the 
same origin. There are two things which proceed from 
the Lord as a sun, divine truth and divine good. Divine 
truth in the heavens is light, and divine good is heat ; but 
divine truth and divine good are so united, that they are 
not two, but one. 

(i The heat of heaven, like its light, is everywhere va- 
rious. That in the celestial kingdom differs from that in 
the spiritual ; and it differs also in every society. And 
not only does it differ in degree, but even in kind. It is 
more intense and pure in the Lord's celestial kingdom, 
because the angels there are more receptive of the divine 
good ; it is less intense and pure in the Lord's spiritual 
kingdom, because the angels there are more receptive of 
divine truth ; and it differs also in every society according 
to reception. 

" There is heat also in the hells, but it is unclean. The 
heat in heaven is what is meant by sacred and celestial 
fire, and the heat of hell is what is meant by profane and 
infernal fire ; and by both is meant love. Celestial fire 



6o LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

means love to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, 
and every affection derived from these loves ; and infernal 
fire means the love of self and the love of the world, and 
every lust derived from these loves." — Ibid. 127-134. 



OBJECTS SEEN IN HEAVEN 

As spirits have eyes we should expect there would be a 
variety of objects in their world to look upon. The gift 
of such a sense or faculty as seeing, presupposes the exist- 
ence of objects to be seen. Besides, a world in which 
there are no objects to be seen, would be— not a very 
desirable world for any one to live in. Deliver me, you 
would say, from a world that has nothing in it — or 
nothing to be seen. But according to Swedenborg there 
is a greater variety of objects in the spiritual than in the 
natural world. He says : 

" The nature of the objects which appear to the angels 
in heaven, cannot be described in a few words. For the 
most part they are like the things on earth, but in form 
more perfect, and in number more abundant. 

" The things which are in heaven cannot be seen 
with the bodily eyes, but with the eyes of the spirit ; and 
these are opened when it pleases the Lord ; and then man 
is withdrawn from the natural light in which he is by 
reason of the bodily senses, and is elevated into spiritual 
light in which he is by reason of his spirit. In that light 
I have seen the things which exist in heaven, 

" But although the objects which appear in heaven are, 



OBJECTS SEEN IN HE A FEN. 6 1 

for the most part, similar to those which exist on earth, 
still they are not similar as to essence ; for the things 
which are in heaven exist from the sun of heaven, and 
those which are on the earth, from the sun of the world. 
The things which exist from the sun of heaven are called 
spiritual, but those which exist from the sun of the world 
are called natural. 

" The things which exist in heaven do not exist in the 
same manner as those which exist on earth. All things 
in heaven exist from the Lord according to their corre- 
spondence with the interiors of the angels; for the angels 
have both interiors and exteriors. The things which are 
in their interiors all have relation to love and faith, thus 
to will and understanding, — for will and understanding 
are their receptacles. 

" Since all things which correspond to the interiors 
also represent them, therefore they are called represen- 
tatives; and since they vary according to the state of 
the interiors with the angels, therefore they are called 
appearances ; — although the objects which appear before 
the eyes of angels in heaven, and which are perceived 
by their senses, appear and are perceived as much to the 
life as those on earth appear to man ; yea, much more 
clearly, distinctly, and perceptibly. The appearances 
thence existing in the heavens, are called real appear- 
ances, because they really exist. 

"To those who are in intelligence, there appear gar- 
dens and paradises full of trees and flowers of every kind. 



62 ' IE INTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

The trees are planted in the most beautiful order, and so 
interwoven as to form arbors, with entrances of verdant 
fret- work, and walks around them, — all of such beauty 
as no language can describe. They who are distinguished 
for intelligence also walk there, and gather flowers. 
There are also species of trees and flowers there, such 
as were never seen and could not exist in the world. On 
the trees are fruits, according to the good of love in 
which the intelligent are principled. Such things are 
seen by them, because a garden and paradise, and also 
fruit-trees and flowers, correspond to intelligence and 
wisdom." — Ibid. 171-176. 



THE ESSENCE OF HE A VEN. 

The following is from the chapter, " The Divine of the 
Lord makes Heaven." It needs no explanation nor 
comment, and I shall therefore offer none. 

"The angels taken collectively are called heaven, 
because they constitute it. Nevertheless it is the Divine 
proceeding from the Lord, which flows-in with the angels, 
and is received by them, which makes heaven in general 
and in particular. The Divine proceeding from the Lord 
is the good of love and the truth of faith. As far, there- 
fore, as they receive good and truth from the Lord, they 
are angels, and are a heaven. 

"Every one in heaven knows and believes, yea, per- 
ceives that he wills and does nothing of good from him- 



THE ESSENCE OF HE A VEN. 63 

self ; and that be thinks and believes nothing of truth 
from himself, but from the Divine, thus from the Lord ; 
and that the good and truth which are from himself, are 
not good and truth, because * there is not in them life 
from the Divine. The angels of the inmost heaven 
also clearly perceive, and are sensible of, the influx ; and 
so far as they receive it, they seem to themselves to be in 
heaven, because they are so far in love and faith, and so 
far in the light of intelligence and wisdom, and thence 
in heavenly joy. Since these things all proceed from the 
Divine of the Lord, and the angels possess heaven in 
them, it is evident that the Divine of the Lord makes 
heaven, and not the angels by virtue of anything prop- 
erly their own. Hence it is that heaven in the Word is 
called the habitation of the Lord, and His throne ; and 
that the dwellers there are said to be in the Lord. 

" The angels, by virtue of their wisdom, go still fur- 
ther. They say that not only are all good and truth 
from the Lord, but also all of life. That all of life is 
from Him they also confirm by this consideration : that 
all things in the universe have reference to good and 
truth, — the life of man's will, which is the life of his 
love, to good, and the life of his understanding, which is 
the life of his faith, to truth. Therefore, since every- 
thing good and true comes from above, it follows that 
all of life also comes from thence. Because the angels 
believe this, therefore they refuse all thanks on account 
of the good they do ; and are displeased and withdraw 



64 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

themselves if any one attributes good to them. They 
wonder how any one can believe that he is wise from 
himself, and that he does good from himself. Good 
done for the sake of one's self, they do not call good, 
because it is done from self; but good done for the sake 
of good, this they call good from the Divine ; and they 
say that this good is what makes heaven. 

"The Divine in heaven which makes heaven, is love; 
because love is spiritual conjunction. Love conjoins the 
angels with the Lord and with each other ; and it con- 
joins them in such a manner, that they are all as one in 
the Lord's sight. 

"There are two distinct loves in heaven, love to the 
Lord and love toward the neighbor. In the inmost or 
third heaven is love to the Lord ; in the second or middle 
heaven, love toward the neighbor. Each proceeds from 
the Lord, and each makes heaven. How these two loves 
are distinguished, and how they are conjoined, appears 
very clearly in heaven, but only obscurely in the world. 
In^heaven, to love the Lord does not mean to love Him 
as to his person, but to love the good which is from 
Him ; and to love good, is to will and do good from 
love. And to love the neighbor does not mean to love 
a fellow-being as to his person, but to love the truth 
which is from the Word ; and to love truth is to will and 
do it." — Ibid. 7, 8, 9, 14, 15. 



MANY SOCIE TIES IN HE A VEN 6$ 



MANY SOCIETIES IN HEAVEN 

All good people in this world, you know, are not ex- 
actly alike. Their goodness differs both in kind and 
degree. They are not all quite congenial ; therefore, if 
left to act in freedom according to their internal prompt- 
ings, they would not all seek each other's society. Only 
those who are in a similar kind and degree of good, are 
perfectly congenial and love to be together. Therefore, 
if each one takes his own character with him into the 
other world, we should expect as great a diversity among 
the angels in heaven, as we find among good people 
here on earth. And as a consequence of this, we should 
expect there would be innumerable societies in heaven, 
each composed of kindred souls drawn together and held 
together by mutual affinity; for only those who are in 
similar kinds and degrees of good, love to be together. 
And agreeably to this, Swedenborg says : 

" The angels do not all dwell together in one place, 
but are distinguished into larger and smaller societies, ac- 
cording to the differences of the good of love and faith 
in which they are. They who are in similar good form 
one society. Goods in the heavens are of infinite variety; 
and every angel is such, in character, as is his own good. 

"The angelic societies in the heavens are also distant 
from each other according to the general and specific dif- 
ferences of their goods ; for distances in the spiritual 
6* E 



66 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

world are from no other origin than from a difference in 
the state of the interiors ; consequently, in the heavens, 
from a difference in the states of love. Those are far apart 
who differ much, and those are near who differ little. 
Similarity brings them together. 

" Those of like character are brought together as it were 
spontaneously ; for with their like, they are as with their 
own [relations], and at home; but with others, as with 
strangers and abroad. When they are with their like, 
they are also in their freedom, and thence in every delight 
of life. Hence it is evident that good consociates all in 
the heavens, and that all are distinguished according to its 
quality. 

"All who are in similar good also know each other — 
although they had never met before — just as men in the 
world know their kindred, relations and friends ; the rea- 
son is, that in the other life there are no kindreds, rela- 
tionships, and friendships but such as are spiritual, that is, 
of love and faith. I have several times been permitted to 
see this, when I have been in the spirit, withdrawn as it 
were from the body, and thus in company with angels. 
On such occasions I have seen some who seemed as if I 
had known them from infancy ; but others seemed wholly 
unknown to me. They who seemed as if known from in- 
fancy, were those who were in a state similar to the state 
of my spirit ; but they who were unknown, were in a dis- 
similar state. 

" All who belong to the same angelic society resemble 
each other in general, but not in particular. In heaven, 



HEA VEN AND THE CHURCH WITHIN. 67 

all the interior affections appear and shine forth from the 
face,— for the face there is the external and representative 
form of these affections. No one in heaven is permitted 
to have a face that is not in correspondence with his affec- 
tions. Hence also it is, that an angel who excels in wis- 
dom, instantly discerns the character of another from his 
face." — Ibid. 41-48. 



HEAVEN AND THE CHURCH WITHIN THE SOUL. 

The prevailing idea in Swedenborg's day concerning 
heaven was, that it is a place into which people may be 
admitted by an act of immediate mercy — as a person 
from favor may be admitted into the palace of a prince. 
Contrary to this idea, he tells us that it is not a place but 
a state of life ; that the essence of heaven is within the 
soul ; and that, if any one should be elevated among the 
angels before the angelic state of life has been developed 
within him by his own voluntary effort, he would find no 
heaven there. On the contrary he would be unspeakably 
miserable, and would desire to depart from the society 
of those whose sphere was so uncongenial. None, he 
assures us, can really go to heaven and be happy there, 
save those who have something of heaven within them- 
selves. And does not this agree with the teaching of the 
Lord himself? " The kingdom of God," He says, 
" cometh not with observation: Neither shall they say, 
Lo here ! or, lo there ! For, behold, the kingdom of 



68 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE, 

God is within you." Listen, now, to Swedenborg on this 
subject : 

" It can in no case be said that heaven is without one, 
but that it is within him; for every angel receives the 
heaven which is without him according to the heaven 
which is within him. This plainly shows how much he is 
deceived, who believes that to go to heaven is merely to 
be elevated among the angels without regard to the qual- 
ity of one's interior life ; thus that heaven may be given 
to every one from immediate mercy ; when yet, unless 
heaven be within a person, nothing of the heaven which 
is without him flows-in and is received. Many spirits en- 
tertain this opinion ; and because of their belief they have 
been taken up into heaven. But when they came there, 
because their interior life was contrary to that of the 
angels, they were so blinded as to their intellectual facul- 
ties that they became like idiots, and were so tortured as 
to their will faculties that they behaved like madmen. In 
a word, they who go to heaven after living wicked lives, 
gasp there for breath, and writhe about like fishes taken 
from the water into the air, and like animals in the ether 
of an air-pump after the air has been exhausted. Hence it 
is evident that heaven is not without one, but within him. 

"Heaven also exists wherever the Lord is acknowl- 
edged, believed in and loved. Variety in the worship 
of Him, arising from the variety of good in different so- 
cieties, is not injurious, but advantageous ; for the per- 
fection of heaven results from such variety. . . . When 



HE A VEN AND THE CHURCH WITHIN. 69 

a whole is composed of various parts, and these are 
arranged in a perfect form wherein each part joins 
itself to another as a sympathizing friend in the series, 
then it is complete. Now heaven is a whole composed of 
various parts arranged in the most perfect form ; for the 
heavenly form is the most perfect of all forms. That all 
perfection results from this harmonious arrangement of 
parts that are different, is evident from all the beauty, 
pleasantness and delight which affect both the senses and 
the mind. 

"The same may be said of the church as of heaven; 
for the church is the Lord's heaven upon earth. There 
are also many churches; and yet each one is called a 
church, and likewise is a church, so far as the good of 
love and faith rules therein. There also the Lord makes 
a whole from different parts, thus from several churches 
makes one church. The same, too, may be said of each 
member of the church in particular, as of the church in 
general ; namely, that the church is within him and not 
without him ; and that every man in whom the Lord is 
present in the good of love and faith, is a church. The 
same may also be said of a man in whom the church is, 
as of an angel in whom heaven is, that he is a church in 
the least form, as an angel is a heaven in the least form ; 
and further, that a man in whom the church is, is a 
heaven equally with an angel ; for man was created that 
he might go to heaven and become an angel ; wherefore 
he who receives good from the Lord, is a man-angel." — 
Ibid. 54-57- 



70 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 



THE WHOLE HE A VEN RESEMBLES A MAN. 

Among all of Swedenborg's alleged disclosures respect- 
ing the other world, there are few, perhaps, which, on 
their first announcement, are commonly regarded as more 
fanciful, or more indicative of mental disorder on the part 
of the seer, than what we find in the following paragraphs : 

"That heaven in its whole complex resembles one 
man, is an arcanum not yet known in the world ; but in 
the heavens it is very well known. The angels know 
that all the heavens, together with their societies, resem- 
ble one man; therefore also they call heaven the Great- 
est and the Divine Man ; Divine from this, that the 
Divine of the Lord makes heaven. 

"The angels, indeed, do not see heaven in the whole 
complex in the form of a man ; for the whole heaven 
does not fall under the view of any angel. But they 
sometimes see remote societies, consisting of many thou- 
sands of angels, as one in such a form ; and from a so- 
ciety as from a part, they form a conclusion concerning 
the whole, which is heaven. For in the most perfect 
form, the whole is as the parts, and the parts as the 
whole ; the only difference being like that between sim- 
ilar things of greater and less magnitude. 

(t The reason why so many different things in man act 
as one, is, that there is nothing whatever in him which 
does not contribute something to the common weal, and 



HEAVEN RESEMBLES A MAN. 7 1 

perform some use. The whole performs use to its parts, 
and the parts perform use to the whole ; for the whole is 
made up of the parts, and the parts constitute the whole ; 
therefore they provide for each other, have respect to 
each other, and are conjoined in such a form that all and 
each have reference to the whole and its good. Hence 
it is that they act as one. 

u The associations in the heavens are similar. They 
are joined together there according to their uses in a like 
form. Therefore they who do not perform use to the 
community, are cast out of heaven as things foreign to 
its nature. To perform use, is to desire the welfare of 
others for the sake of the common good ; and not to 
perform use, is to desire the welfare of others, not for the 
sake of the common good, but for the sake of self. These 
latter love themselves supremely, but the former love the 
Lord above all things. Hence it is that they who are in 
heaven act in unison, not from themselves but from the 
Lord ; for they regard Him as the one only Source of all 
things, and his kingdom as the community whose good is to 
be sought. This is meant by the Lord's words, ' Seek ye 
first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness, and all 
these things shall be added unto you.' Matt. vi. 33. 

"They who, in the world, love the good of their 
country more than their own, and the good of their 
neighbor as their own, are they who, in the other life, 
love and seek the kingdom of the Lord, — for there the 
kingdom of the Lord is in the place of their country; 



*J2 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

and they who love to do good to others, not for their own 
sake, but for the sake of the good, love their neighbor, 
— for in the other life good is the neighbor. All who 
are of this character are in the Grand Man ; that is, in 
heaven . " — Ibid . 5 9-65 . 

I am aware how absurd it must seem on its first an- 
nouncement, to liken the whole heaven of angels to one 
man ; or to call it, as Swedenborg often does, Maximus 
Homo — "the Grand Man." Yet it needs but little re- 
flection to see that there is no other conceivable way in 
which the exact truth could be so well or so concisely 
expressed. For what is to be understood by the expres- 
sion ? Simply this : That the diversity, unity, harmony, 
mutual dependence and perfect concert of action existing 
among the societies which constitute the entire angelic 
heaven, are precisely similar to and correspondent with 
what exist among the various members and organs of the 
human body. The body consists of a great number of 
parts. And how diverse are these parts in form and func- 
tion ! Yet what entire agreement among them, notwith- 
standing this diversity ! What beautiful, fraternal union ! 
What harmonious and perfect concert of action ! What 
utter dependence of each upon all the rest ! If you de- 
sired something whereby to illustrate the most perfect 
unity and harmony, coupled with mutual dependence and 
the greatest conceivable variety, is not the human body 
the very thing you would select ? 

And when this idea of heaven comes to be generally 



CHANGES IN HE A VEN 73 

accepted by Christians, they will see that unity with di- 
versity is agreeable to divine order ; and that the numer- 
ous societies and churches on earth, however they differ 
in doctrine and ritual, may — and if animated by a heav- 
enly spirit, will — nevertheless, live together and labor 
together, like the different members and organs of the 
human body, in perfect unity. You, my brother, can 
certainly understand and appreciate this new idea of 
heaven ; and can readily see its practical bearings upon 
the church here below. 



CHANGES OF STA TE IN HE A VEN. 

Variety and change everywhere mark the universe of 
God. How doleful would seem a world in which there 
is no change ! Picture to yourself the most enchanting 
scene imaginable, the most delightful season of the year 
and time of day ; and then imagine that scene and season 
and hour to be invariably the same ! How soon you 
would tire of it ! Before the lapse of three months — 
perhaps of one — you would long to have that scene 
changed, even though the change should be to something 
less lovely. And does not this prove that change, or the 
desire for it, is stamped on the soul itself? And if so, 
must not changes of state, involving corresponding 
changes in the outward or phenomenal world, be one of 
the conditions of happiness in the Hereafter? The fol- 
lowing are among our seer's disclosures on this subject: 
7 



74 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

"States are predicated of life, and of those things 
which belong to life ; and since angelic life is the life of 
love and faith, and thence of wisdom and intelligence, 
therefore states are predicated of these, and are called 
states of love and faith, and states of wisdom and intel- 
ligence. 

" The angels are not constantly in the same state as to 
love, nor, consequently, as to wisdom ; for all their wis- 
dom is from love and according to it. Sometimes they 
are in a state of intense love, and sometimes in a state of 
love not so intense. It decreases by degrees from its greatest 
to its least. When they are in the greatest degree of love, 
they are in the light and heat of their life, or in their 
bright and delightful state; but when they are in the least 
degree, they are in shade and cold, or in their state of 
obscurity and undelight. From the last state they return 
again to the first ; and so on. 

"These states do not succeed each other uniformly, 
but with variety, like the variations of the state of light 
and shade, and of heat and cold ; or like morning, noon, 
evening, and night, every day in the world, with per- 
petual variety throughout the year. They also corre- 
spond, — morning to a state of their love in brightness ; 
noon to a state of their wisdom in brightness ; evening 
to a state of their wisdom in obscurity ; and night to a 
state of no love and wisdom. But it is to be observed 
that there is no correspondence of night with the states 
of life of those who are in heaven ; but there is a corre- 



CHANGES IN HE A VEN. . 75 

spondence of the twilight which precedes the morning. 
The correspondence of night is with those who are in 
hell. From this correspondence days and years in the 
Word signify states of life in general ; heat and light, 
love and wisdom ; morning, the first and highest degree 
of love ; noon, wisdom in its light ; evening, wisdom in 
its shade ; daybreak, the obscurity which precedes the 
morning ; and night, the deprivation of love and wisdom. 

"The states of the various things without the angels, 
and which appear before their eyes, are also changed 
with the states of their interiors which are of their love 
and wisdom; for the things which are without them, 
assume an appearance corresponding to those within 
them. 

" I have been informed from heaven why such changes 
of state prevail there. The angels told me there were 
several reasons : First, that the delight of life and of 
heaven, which results from their love and wisdom derived 
from the Lord, would gradually lose its value if they were 
always in it ; as is the case with those who are in the 
enjoyment of delights and pleasures without variety. 
Another reason is, that angels have a proprium as well as 
men ; that this consists in loving themselves ; that all in 
heaven are withheld from their proprium, and are in love 
and wisdom so far as they are withheld from it by the 
Lord ; but so far as they are not withheld, they are in 
the love of self; and because every one loves his pro- 
prium, and this draws him down, therefore they have 



y6 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

changes of state or successive alternations. A third 
reason is, that they are perfected by these changes ; for 
they are thus habitually held in love to the Lord, and 
withheld from the love of self. Their perception and 
sense of good is also rendered more exquisite by the 
alternations of delight and undelight. The angels further 
said, that the Lord does not produce their changes of 
state, — because the Lord, as a sun, is always flowing in 
with heat and light, that is, with love and wisdom ; but 
that the cause is in themselves, because they love their 
proprium, which continually draws them away from the 
Lord. This they illustrated by a comparison with the 
sun of the world ; for the changes of the state of heat 
and cold, of light and shade, every year and every day, 
do not originate in the sun, because it stands still ; but 
they are occasioned by the motion of the earth."— Ibid. 
154-158- 



TIME AND SPACE IN HEAVEN. 

How often is the mind so thoroughly absorbed in a 
subject, or so agreeably entertained by genial company, 
that we take no note of time. Hours pass, when to us 
they seem but minutes. Again, in moments of distress- 
ing anxiety, when your house is on fire, or your child has 
fallen into the water, seconds seem to you as minutes and 
minutes as hours. Again, do we not sometimes in our 
dreams have the experience of days crowded into a few 



TIME IN HEAVEN. J J 

moments of natural time ? Do we not, in a few minutes, 
make journeys and accomplish deeds that would require 
days, weeks or months ? All of which goes to prove, that, 
in the spiritual realm there exists not what we call time, 
but state instead. And now for Swedenborg's testimony 
on the subject. He says : 

"Although all things in heaven have succession and 
progression as in the world, still the angels have no no- 
tion or idea of time and space, insomuch that they are 
altogether ignorant of what time and space are. 

"They do not know what time is, — although all 
things with them are in successive progression as in the 
world, and that so completely that there is no difference, 
— because in heaven there are not years and days, but 
changes of state. And where years and days are, there 
are times \ but where changes of state are, there are states. 

" There are times in the world, because the sun of the 
world appears to advance successively from one degree 
[in the heavens] to another, thus causing the times which 
#re called the seasons of the year ; and moreover, he ap- 
parently revolves around the earth, and thus causes the 
times which are called times of day. Both these changes 
occur at regular intervals. It is otherwise with the sun of 
heaven. That sun does not, by successive progressions 
and circumgyrations, cause years and days, but, to appear- 
ance, changes of state \ and these not at regular intervals. 

" Hence the angels do not know what those things are 
which are proper to time, as a year, a month, a week, a 
7* 



78 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

day, an hour, to-day, to-morrow, yesterday. When they 
hear them named by man, they have, instead of them, a 
perception of states, and of "such things as relate to state ; 
thus the natural idea of man is turned into a spiritual idea 
with 'the angels. Hence it is that times in the Word sig- 
nify states ; and that the things which are proper to time, 
as those above-mentioned, signify spiritual things corre- 
sponding to them. 

" The case is the same in regard to all things which 
exist from time, such as the four seasons of the year called 
spring, summer, autumn and winter; the four times of the 
day, called morning, noon, evening and night ; the four 
ages of man, called infancy, youth, manhood and old 
age ; and all other things which exist from time, or succeed 
according to time. In thinking of them, man thinks from 
time, but an angel from state. Therefore what is derived 
from time in the thought of man, is turned into the idea 
of state with an angel. Spring and morning are turned 
into the idea of a state of love and wisdom such as they 
are with the angels in their first state ; summer and noon, 
into an idea of love and wisdom such as they are in their 
second state ; autumn and evening, such as they are in 
their third state ; and night and winter, into the idea of 
such a state as exists in hell. Hence it is that similar 
things are signified in the Word by those times. * ' 

Nor does our kind of space exist in the spiritual world 
any more than our time. Yet things appear to be in 
space there, precisely as in this world ; and people appear 



SPA CE IN HE A VEN. 79 

to go from place to place by the exercise of their powers 
of locomotion, the same as on earth; but this appearance 
is the result of a change of state. When Paul was 
caught up, as he tells us, to the third heaven, his body 
underwent no change of place, though there was doubtless 
the appearance to the apostle himself of being lifted above 
the earth through space. In reality, he simply under- 
went a change of state — the interiors of his mind being 
opened to the third degree. And when the Lord invites 
us to come unto Him, He is to be understood spiritually, 
as inviting us to come into sympathy with Him — to be- 
come like Him in the spirit and temper of our minds — 
to pass from one state of mind, and not from one place, 
to another. Change of state, therefore, is spiritually de- 
noted by change of place; and in the spiritual world the 
latter is the representative appearance and result of the 
former. Accordingly Swedenborg says : 

" All progressions in the spiritual world are made by 
changes of the state of the interiors, so that they are noth- 
ing but changes of state. By such changes have I also 
been conducted by the Lord into the heavens, and like- 
wise to the earths in the universe. I was carried there as 
to the spirit only, my body meanwhile remaining in the 
same place. Thus do all the angels journey. Hence 
they have no distances ; and since they have no distances, 
they have no spaces, but instead of spaces they have states 
and their changes. 

"Change of place being only change of state, it is evi- 



80 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

dent that approximations are similitudes as to the state of 
the interiors, and that removals are dissimilitudes. Hence 
it is that those are near together who are in a similar state, 
and those distant who are in a dissimilar state ; and that 
spaces in heaven are merely external states corresponding 
to internal, prom this cause alone the heavens are dis- 
tinct from each other, also the societies of each heaven, 
and every individual in a society. Hence, too, the 
hells are altogether separated from the heavens, for they 
are in an opposite state. 

"From this cause also it is, that in the spiritual world 
one becomes manifestly present to another, if that other 
intensely desires his presence ; for thus he sees him in 
thought, and puts himself in his state. On the other 
hand, one is removed from another in proportion as he 
holds him in aversion. All aversion is from contrariety 
of the affections and disagreement of the thoughts ; hence 
it happens that many who are together in one place in 
the spiritual world, appear to each other so long as they 
agree, but disappear as soon as they disagree. 

"Further: when any one goes from one place to an- 
other, whether it be in his own city, or in the courts, 
or in the gardens, or to others out of his own society, he 
arrives sooner when he desires, and later when he does 
not, — the distance itself being lengthened or shortened 
according to the desire, although it is the same. I have 
often observed this, and wondered at it. Hence again 
it is evident that distances, consequently spaces, are alto- 



CORRESPONDENCES. 8 1 

gether according to the states of their interiors with the 
angels ; and that on this account no notion or idea of 
space can enter their thoughts, although there are spaces 
with them just the same as in the world. 

" Hence it is that, in the Word, by places and spaces 
and all things which relate to space, are signified such 
things as belong to state ; as by distances, nearness, re- 
moteness, ways, marches and journeyings ; by miles and 
furlongs ; by plains, fields, gardens, cities and 'streets ; 
by motions; by measures of various kinds; by length, 
breadth, height and depth ; and by innumerable other 
things ; for most things which are in the thought of man 
in the world, derive something from space and time. 

" From these things it may be seen, that in heaven, 
although there are spaces as in the world, still nothing 
there is estimated by spaces, but by states : consequently 
that spaces cannot be measured there as in the world, but 
only can be seen from the state and according to the state 
of the interiors of the angels." — Ibid. 192-198. 



CORRESPONDENCE OF SPIRITUAL WITH NATURAL 

THINGS. 

Some writer has said, " There is a language of things 
as well as of words. ' ' If so, things must all have a 
meaning, — must they not ? Their visible forms must be 
but ultimate expressions of an invisible essence. The 
smile of your friend — what is it? Regarded merely as 

F 



82 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

to its outward form, it is a peculiar disposition of the 
muscles of the face ; but considered in reference to its 
cause or essence, it is a peculiar emotion of the heart. 
And while these two things differ widely in their nature, 
they are related, we see, like cause and effect. One pro- 
duces the other; and they correspond like substance and 
shadow. One belongs to the mind, the other to the body. 
One is spiritual, the other natural. But the two things, 
though differing so widely in their nature, are indissolubly 
united, and make one by correspondence. 

And according to Swedenborg, this law of correspond- 
ence is a law of creation, and of divine revelation also. 
The same law, therefore, is at once the key to the spirit- 
ual meaning of the Word, and determines the whole as- 
pect of the phenomenal world in the Hereafter. He says : 

" All things which exist in nature, from the least to 
the greatest, are correspondences. They are correspond- 
ences, because the natural world and all that belongs to 
it, exists and subsists from the spiritual world, and both 
from the Divine. 

"Everything in nature which exists and subsists from 
divine order, is a correspondent. The divine good which 
proceeds from the Lord makes divine order. It com- 
mences from Him, proceeds from Him through the 
heavens successively into the world, and there terminates 
in ultimates. All things in the world which are accord- 
ing to order, are correspondences. Hence it is that all 
things in the whole world, and partaking of the nature of 



CORRESPONDENCES. 8 3 

the world, which are in divine order, have relation to 
good and truth. 

"That all things in the world exist from the Divine, 
and are appropriately clothed in nature, so as to exist 
there, to perform use, and thus to correspond, is manifest 
from everything seen both in the animal and in the vege- 
table kingdom. In both these kingdoms there are such 
things as every one, who thinks interiorly, may see to be 
from heaven. 

"But no one at this day can know the spiritual things 
in heaven to which the natural things in the world corre- 
spond, except by revelation from heaven, because the 
knowledge of correspondences is now lost. I will there- 
fore illustrate by some examples, the nature of the corre- 
spondence of spiritual things with natural. 

"The animals of the earth in general correspond to 
affections ; the gentle and useful ones, to good affec- 
tions, the savage and useless, to evil affections. In par- 
ticular, cows and oxen correspond to the affections of the 
natural mind ; sheep and lambs, to the affections of the 
spiritual mind ; but winged creatures, according to their 
species, correspond to the intellectual things of both 
minds. Hence it is that various animals, as cows, oxen, 
rams, sheep, she-goats, he-goats, he-lambs, she-lambs, 
and also pigeons and turtle-doves, were devoted to a 
sacred use in the Israelitish church, — which was a repre- 
sentative church, — and sacrifices and burnt- offerings were 
made of them ; for in that use they corresponded to 



84 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

things spiritual, which were understood in heaven accord- 
ing to correspondences. Animals, also, according to 
their genera and species, are affections, because they 
live ; for everything has life from no other source than 
from affection and according to it. Hence every animal 
has innate knowledge according to the affection of its life. 
Man, too, is similar to animals as to his natural man, and 
therefore is compared to them in common discourse. If 
he be of a gentle disposition, he is called a sheep or a 
lamb; if of a savage temper, he is called a bear or a wolf; 
if cunning, he is called a fox or a serpent ; and so on. 

" There is a like correspondence with the things in the 
vegetable kingdom. A garden in general corresponds to 
heaven as to intelligence and wisdom ; on which account 
heaven is called in the Word the garden of God, and 
paradise, and also by man the heavenly paradise. Trees, 
according to their species, correspond to the perceptions 
and knowledges of good and truth, from which come in- 
telligence and wisdom. Therefore the ancients, who 
were skilled in the knowledge of correspondences, held 
their sacred worship in groves ; and hence it is that in 
the Word trees are so often mentioned, and that heaven, 
the church, and man, are compared to them, as to the 
vine, the olive, the cedar, and others; and the good 
works which they do, to fruits. The food also which they 
produce, especially that from grain, corresponds to the 
affections of good and truth, because these nourish the 
spiritual life, as terrestrial food does the natural. Hence 



CORRESPONDENCES. 8 5 

bread in general corresponds to the affection of all good, 
because it supports life better than other aliments, and 
because bread means all kinds of food. On account of 
this correspondence, also, the Lord calls Himself the 
bread of life. And for the same reason, too, bread was 
applied to a sacred use in the Israelitish church; for it was 
set upon the table in the tabernacle, and called the bread 
of faces [or show-bread]; likewise all the divine wor- 
ship, which was performed by sacrifices and burnt-offer- 
ings, was called bread. On account of this correspond- 
ence, also, the most holy solemnity of worship in the 
Christian church is the Holy Supper, in which are dis- 
tributed bread and wine [bread corresponding to the good 
of love, and wine to the truth of wisdom]. From these 
few examples the nature of correspondence may be 
clearly seen. 

"In what manner the conjunction of heaven with the 
world is effected by correspondences, shall also be briefly 
explained. 

"The kingdom of the Lord is a kingdom of ends, 
which are uses ; or, — what is the same,— it is a kingdom 
of uses, which are ends. Therefore the universe was so 
created and formed by the Divine, that uses might every- 
where be clothed with coverings, whereby they are em- 
bodied in act or in effect, first in heaven and afterwards in 
the world ; thus by degrees and successively even to the 
ultimates of nature. Hence it is evident that the corre- 
spondence of natural with spiritual things, or of the world 
8 



86 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

with heaven, is effected by uses, and that uses conjoin 
them ; and that the forms with which uses are clothed, 
are correspondences and mediums of conjunction in 
proportion as they are forms of use. In the natural 
world and its three kingdoms, all things which exist ac- 
cording to order are forms of use, or effects formed from 
use for the sake of use ; therefore these things are corre- 
spondences. The actions of man likewise are uses in 
form, and are correspondences, whereby he is conjoined 
to heaven so far as he lives according to divine order, or 
so far as he is in love to the Lord and in charity toward 
his neighbor. To love the Lord and the neighbor in 
general is to perform uses. 

" It is to be further observed, that the natural world is 
conjoined with the spiritual by means of man, or, that 
he is the medium of their conjunction ; for both worlds 
exist in him. So far therefore as man is spiritual, he is a 
medium of conjunction ; but so far as he is natural and 
not spiritual, he is not a medium of conjunction. Still, 
without man as a medium, the divine influx into the world 
continues; and also into those things which are of the 
world with man, but not into his rational faculty. 

"As all things which are according to divine order 
correspond to heaven, so all things which are contrary to 
divine order correspond to hell. All those which corre- 
spond to heaven, have relation to good and truth ; and 
those which correspond to hell, have relation to the evil 
and the false. 



HO USES IN HE A VEN. 8 J 

ts Man has communication with heaven by corre- 
spondences ; for the angels of heaven do not think from 
natural things as man does. Therefore when man is in 
the knowledge of correspondences, he may be associated 
with the angels as to the thoughts of his mind, and thus 
be conjoined with them as to his spiritual or internal man. 

"The Word was written by pure correspondences, in 
order that man might be conjoined with heaven ; for 
even the minutest parts of the Word correspond to 
something spiritual. Wherefore if man were skilled in 
the knowledge of correspondences, he would understand 
its spiritual sense, and become acquainted with arcana 
whereof he perceives nothing in the sense of the letter. 
For in the Word there is both a literal and a spiritual 
sense. The literal sense consists of such things as are in 
the world, but the spiritual sense of such things as are in 
heaven. And since the conjunction of heaven with the 
world is by correspondences, therefore such a Word was 
given, that everything in it, even to an iota, corre- 
sponds." — Ibid. 106-1x4. 



HOUSES IN HE A VEN. 

"Heaven is the home of the blessed," says an excel- 
lent authority. The upright and pure-hearted, when 
they think of heaven, think of it as a home — as their 
eternal home. Looking forward to the day of their 
death, they often speak of it as a time when they hope 
to be taken home. 



88 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

Among the deep and strong yearnings of every good 
man's heart, none, perhaps, are deeper or stronger than 
his yearning for a peaceful home. It is felt as a central 
want of the soul ; and as such, we should expect that due 
provision would be made for its gratification in the Here- 
after. God must surely provide for the ultimate satisfac- 
tion of every want which his own boundless love has 
implanted. And this universal desire for a home, is 
rooted in the constitution of the soul itself — so deeply 
rooted there, too, that we may be sure it will not perish 
with the body. And when we consider that this desire 
grows deeper and stronger as one advances in the life of 
heaven, we cannot resist the conclusion that it must exist 
in heaven also, and be even stronger there than here. 

The angels, then, must have homes. But the moment 
we think of them as having homes, we think of them as 
dwelling in houses — so closely is the idea of home asso- 
ciated in our minds with some kind of habitation. The 
highest use of a house on earth is social or spiritual. It 
stands as the representative image of home. It is the 
symbol of those home-born and home-felt joys which 
constitute " that best portion of a good man's life." 

Hear, now, what Swedenborg says on this subject : 

" Since there are societies in heaven, and the angels 
live as men, therefore also they have habitations, and 
these likewise various according to every one's state of 
life ; magnificent for those in a state of superior dignity, 
and less magnificent for those in an inferior condition. I 



HO USES IN HE A VEN. 89 

have occasionally conversed with the angels concerning 
the habitations in heaven, and I told them that scarcely 
any one at this day will believe that angels have habita- 
tions and mansions ; some, because they do not see them ; 
others, because they do not know that angels are men ; 
and others, because they believe that the angelic heaven 
is the heaven which they see around them ; and because 
this appears empty, and they suppose the angels to be 
ethereal forms, they conclude that they live in the ether. 
Besides, they do not comprehend how there can be such 
things in the spiritual world as exist in the natural world, 
because they know nothing concerning what is spiritual. 
The angels replied, that they know such ignorance pre- 
vails in the world at this day; and to their surprise, 
chiefly within the church, and more among the intelligent 
there, than among those whom they call the simple. 

" Whenever I have conversed with the angels mouth to 
mouth, I have been present with them in their habita- 
tions, which are exactly like the habitations on earth 
called houses, but more beautiful. They contain halls, 
parlors, and bed-chambers, in great numbers ; courts also, 
and round about them, gardens, shrubberies and fields. 
Where the angels live in societies, their habitations are 
contiguous, close to each other, and arranged in the form 
of a city, with streets, courts, and public squares, exactly 
like the cities on our earth. I have also been permitted 
to walk through them, and to look around on every side, 
and occasionally to enter the houses. This occurred in a 
8* 



90 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

state of full wakefulness, when my interior sight was 
opened. 

" I have seen the palaces of heaven, which were mag- 
nificent beyond description. Their upper parts shone 
refulgent as if of pure gold, and their lower parts as if of 
precious stones. Some were more splendid than others ; 
and the splendor without was equalled by the magnifi- 
cence within. The apartments were ornamented with 
decorations, which neither language nor science can ade- 
quately describe. On the side that looked to the south 
were paradises, where all things were equally resplendent. 
In some places the leaves of the trees were like silver, and 
the fruits like gold ; and the flowers arranged in their 
beds presented, by their colors, the appearance of rain- 
bows. Near the boundaries, again, appeared other 
palaces, which terminated the view. Such is the archi- 
tecture of heaven, that one might say it is the very art 
itself; and no wonder, for that art itself is from heaven. 
The angels said that such things, and innumerable others 
still more perfect, are presented before their eyes by the 
Lord; but that, nevertheless, they delight their minds 
more than their eyes, because in everything they see cor- 
respondences, and by means of correspondences, things 
divine. 

"The houses in which the angels dwell are not built 
like houses in the world, but are given to them gratis by 
the Lord, — to each one according to his reception of 
good and truth. They also vary a little according to the 



G O VERNMENTS IN HE A FEN. 9 1 

changes of the state of their interiors. All things what- 
soever which the angels possess, they hold as gifts from the 
Lord, and they are supplied with everything they need." 
Ibid. 183-190. 



GOVERNMENTS IN HE A VEN 

" Since heaven is distinguished into societies, and the 
larger societies consist of some hundreds of thousands of 
angels, and since all the members of one society are, in- 
deed, in similar good, but not in similar wisdom, it 
necessarily follows that there are governments in heaven. 
For order must be observed, and all things of order are 
to be kept inviolable. But the governments in the 
heavens are various; of one sort in the societies which 
constitute the Lord's celestial kingdom, and of another 
in the societies which constitute his spiritual kingdom. 
They differ also according to the ministries performed by 
each society. 

" But all the forms of government agree in this, that 
they regard the general good as their end, and in that, 
the good of every individual. This results from the fact, 
that all in the universal heaven are under the auspices of 
the Lord, who loves all, and from divine love ordains 
that the common good shall be the source of good to 
every individual ; and that every individual shall receive 
good in proportion as he loves the common good. For 
so far as any one loves the community, he loves all the 



92 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

individuals who compose it; and since that love is the 
love of the Lord, therefore he is so far loved by the 
Lord, and good results to him. 

"From these observations it may appear what is the 
character of the governors, namely, that they are in love 
and wisdom more than others ; and that they will well to 
all from love, and from wisdom know how to provide 
that the good they desire may be realized. They who 
are of this character, do not domineer and command 
imperiously, but minister and serve ; for to do good to 
others from the love of good, is to serve ; and to provide 
that the intended good be realized, is to minister. Nor 
do they account themselves greater than others, but less ; 
for they esteem the good of society and of their neigh- 
bor in the first place, but their own in the last ; and what 
is in the first place is the greater, and what is in the last, 
the less. 

"There are also governments in the hells ; for unless 
there were, the infernals could not be kept under any 
restraint. But the governments there are the opposite of 
those in heaven. They are all founded in self-love ; for 
every one there desires to rule over others and to be the 
greatest. They hate those who do not favor them, and 
pursue them with vindictiveness and cruelty, — for such 
is the very nature of self-love. Wherefore the most ma- 
lignant are set over them as governors, whom they obey 
from fear." — Ibid. 213-215. 



WORSHIP IN HEA VEN. 93 



TEMPLES AND WORSHIP IN HEA VEN. 

If there be houses in heaven, we should expect there 
would also be temples for worship. But what is the ob- 
ject of public or temple worship here on earth? Rightly 
viewed, it is to enlighten the understanding in spiritual 
things ; to exalt the aims and purify the motives ; to im- 
prove and ennoble the character ; in a word, to fit us for 
that higher and nobler kind of worship, which consists 
in a religious obedience to all the known laws of the 
Lord and the faithful performance of every known duty. 
Can there be any doubt that this is the highest kind of 
worship, and the end aimed at in all external and formal 
worship? And when the worshipper has attained this 
end, does he not worship everywhere and at all times? — ■ 
" in spirit and in truth? M Hear, now, what Swedenborg 
says of divine worship in heaven : 

"Divine worship in heaven is not unlike that on earth 
as to externals, but it differs as to internals. In heaven 
as on earth, there are doctrines, preachings and temples. 
The doctrines agree as to essentials, but are of more inte- 
rior wisdom in the superior than in the inferior heavens. 
The preaching is according to the doctrines ; and as they 
have houses and palaces so also they have temples in which 
there is preaching. Such things exist in heaven, because 
the angels are continually being perfected in wisdom and 
love ; for they have understanding and will like men, 



94 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

and are capable of advancing forever toward perfection. 
The understanding is perfected by the truths which are of 
intelligence, and the will by the goods which are of love. 

" But real divine worship in heaven does not consist in 
frequenting temples and listening to sermons, but in a 
life of love, charity and faith according to doctrine. 
Sermons in the temples serve only as means of instruc- 
tion in the conduct of life. I have conversed with an- 
gels on this subject, and have told them that it is believed 
in the world that divine worship consists merely in going 
to church, hearing sermons, attending the sacrament of 
the holy supper three or four times a year, and in other 
forms of worship prescribed by the church; to which 
may be added, the setting apart of particular times for 
prayer, and a devout manner while engaged in it. The 
angels replied, that these are externals which ought to be 
observed, but that they are of no avail unless there be an 
internal from which they proceed ; and that this internal 
is a life according to the precepts which doctrine teaches. 

"In order that I might become acquainted with their 
meetings in the temples, I have several times been per- 
mitted to go in and listen to the discourses. The ser- 
mons are fraught with such wisdom, that none in the 
world can be compared with them ; for the preachers in 
heaven are in interior light. 

" I have also conversed with one of the preachers con- 
cerning the holy state in which they are who hear the 
sermons in the temples ; and he said that every one is in 
a pious, devout and holy state according to his interiors 



SPEECH OF THE ANGELS. 95 

which are of love and faith, because in these is holiness 
itself from the Divine of the Lord ; and that he had no 
conception of external holiness separate from love and 
faith. When he thought of external holiness separate 
from these, he said that possibly it might be something 
artificial or hypocritical, which simulates the outward 
appearance of holiness \ and that some spurious fire kin- 
dled by the love of self and the world, might awaken 
such holiness and give it form. 

"As soon as the angels hear truths, they acknowledge 
them, and thus perceive. The truths which they perceive, 
they also love; and by living according to them, they in- 
corporate them into their lives. To live according to 
truths, they say, is to love the Lord. 

"The doctrines preached in the temples of heaven all 
regard life as their end, and none of them faith without 
life. The doctrine of the inmost heaven is fuller of 
wisdom than that of the middle heaven ; and the doctrine 
of the middle heaven is fuller of intelligence than that 
of the ultimate heaven ; for the doctrines are adapted to 
the perception of the angels in each heaven. The essen- 
tial of all the doctrines is, to acknowledge the Divine 
Human of the Lord." — Ibid. 221-227. 



SPEECH OF THE ANGELS. 

Do angels have a language? And do they converse 
together like men? Why not ? — if they have mouths, 



g6 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

tongues, ears, etc., and are perfectly human in form and 
feeling. The Bible, too, often speaks of them as talking 
and singing ; and the verdict of reason accords with the 
teaching of revelation ; and the experience of Sweden- 
borg confirms the testimony of both. He says : 

"The angels converse together just as men do in the 
world, and talk, like them, on various subjects, such as 
domestic affairs, social affairs, and matters pertaining to 
moral and spiritual life. Nor is there any difference, ex- 
cept that they converse more intelligently than men, be- 
cause from more interior thought. I have often been 
permitted to associate with them, and to converse with 
them as friend with friend, and sometimes as stranger with 
stranger; and because I was then in a state similar to 
theirs, I knew not but that I was conversing with men on 
earth. 

" Angelic speech consists of distinct words like human 
speech, and is equally sonorous; for angels have a 
mouth, a tongue, and ears; also an atmosphere in which 
the sound of their speeches articulated ; but it is a spirit- 
ual atmosphere accommodated to the angels, who are 
spiritual beings. The angels also breathe in their atmos- 
phere, and pronounce their words by means of theii 
breath, as men do in theirs. 

"All in the whole heaven have one language, and all 
understand each other, whatever society they belong to, 
whether neighboring or remote. The language is not 
learned there, but is implanted in every one ; for it flows 



SPEECH OF THE ANGELS. 97 

from his very affection and thought. The sound of their 
speech corresponds to their affection, and the articulations 
of sound, which are words, correspond to the ideas of 
thought derived from affection; and because their lan- 
guage corresponds to these, that also is spiritual, for it is 
affection sounding and thought speaking. 

" The wiser angels know from a single series of words 
what the ruling affection is ; for they attend chiefly to 
that. Therefore they discover from his speech the whole 
character of the speaker. This has been proved to me 
by much experience. I have heard angels revealing the 
life of another merely from hearing him speak. They 
have also told me that they know the whole of another's 
life from a few ideas of his thought, because they learn 
from them his ruling love, wherein- are -inscribed all the 
particulars of his life in their order ; and that man's book 
of life is nothing else. 

"That angelic language has nothing in common with 
human languages, is evident from this, that it is impos- 
sible for angels to utter a single word of human lan- 
guage. They have tried, but were unable; for they 
cannot utter anything but what is in perfect agreement 
with their affection. Whatever is not in agreement with 
their affection, is repugnant to their very life ; for their 
life is that of affection, and from this comes their speech. 

"Because the speech of angels corresponds to their 
affection which is of love, and the love of heaven is love 
to the Lord and love toward the neighbor, it is obvious 
9 G 



98 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

how elegant and delightful must be their discourse. It 
affects not only the ears of the listeners, but even the in- 
teriors of their minds. An angel once conversed with a 
certain hard-hearted spirit, who was at length so affected 
by his discourse that he burst into tears, saying that he 
could not help it, for it was love speaking ; and that he 
had never wept before. 

" The speech of angels is also full of wisdom, because 
it proceeds from their interior thought ; and their interior 
thought is wisdom, as their interior affection is love. 
Love and wisdom are united in their discourse; hence it 
is so full of wisdom, that they can express by one word 
what man cannot express by a thousand. The ideas of 
their thought also comprehend things which man cannot 
conceive, much less utter. Hence it is that the things 
which have been heard and seen in heaven are said to be 
ineffable, and such as ear hath not heard nc% eye seen. 
It has also been my privilege to know from experience 
that this is so. I have sometimes been let into the state 
in which the angels are, and have conversed with them ; 
and in that state I understood everything they said ; but 
when I was brought back into my former state, and thus 
into the natural thought proper to man, and wished to 
recall what I had heard, I was unable ; for there were a 
thousand things which could not be brought down to the 
ideas of natural thought, and therefore could not be at 
all expressed in human language. 

" Speech similar to that in the spiritual world is in- 



A DANGEROUS PRACTICE. 99 

herent in every man, but in his interior intellectual part. 
But man does not know this, because it does not fall into 
words analogous to his affection, as it does with the 
angels. Yet it is from this cause that man, when he 
comes into the other life, speaks the language of spirits 
and angels without effort or instruction. 

"All in heaven speak the same language, as was said 
above ; but it varies in this respect, that the speech of the 
wise is more interior, and fuller of the variations of af- 
fection and of the ideas of thoughts. M — Ibid. 234-244. 



DANGER IN SPEAKING WITH SPIRITS. 

At this day, when so many are prying into the spiritual 
world through modern "mediums," so called, instead of 
heeding the revelation that God has been pleased to 
make, the following remarks by Swedenborg upon the 
danger of this practice, ought not to be passed over : 

"To speak with spirits at this day is rarely permitted, 
because it is dangerous; for the spirits then know that 
they are present with man, which they otherwise do not. 
And evil spirits are of such a nature that they regard man 
with deadly hatred, and.desire nothing more than to de- 
stroy him, both soul and body. This also they accom- 
plish with those who have indulged much in fantasies, so 
as to remove from themselves the delights suitable to the 
natural man. Yet some who lead a solitary life occasion- 
ally hear spirits speaking with them, and without danger. 



1-06 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

" Persons who think much upon religious subjects, and 
are so intent upon them as to see them as it were inwardly 
in themselves, also begin to hear spirits speaking with 
them; for religious subjects of whatever kind — when a 
man of his own accord dwells upon them, and does not 
interrupt the current of his thoughts by various uses in the 
world — penetrate interiorly, become fixed there, occupy 
the whole spirit of the man, and in fact enter into the 
spiritual world and act upon the spirits who dwell there. 
But such persons are visionaries and enthusiasts, and 
believe whatever spirit they hear to be the Holy Spirit, 
when yet they are enthusiastic spirits. Such spirits see 
falsities as truths, and because they see them, they per- 
suade themselves that they are truths, and infuse the same 
persuasion into those who are receptive of their influx. 

"Enthusiastic spirits are distinguished from other 
spirits by this peculiarity, that they believe themselves to 
be the Holy Spirit, and their sayings divine. They do 
not hurt the man with whom they communicate, because 
he honors them with divine worship. I have also several 
times conversed with these spirits ; and on such occasions 
the wicked principles and motives which they infused into 
their worshipers were discovered. 

"But to speak with the angels of heaven is granted 
only to those who are in truth derived from good, and 
especially to those who are in the acknowledgment of the 
Lord, and of the Divine in his Human, because this is 
the truth wherein the heavens are established." — Ibid. 
249, 250. 



THE WISDOM OF THE ANGELS. 101 



THE WISDOM OF THE ANGELS. 

" What the wisdom of the angels is may be concluded 
from the fact that they dwell in the light of heaven ; and 
the light of heaven in its essence is divine truth, or 
divine wisdom ; and this light enlightens at the same time 
their internal sight, which is that of the mind, and their 
external sight which is that of the eyes. All things which 
they see with their eyes and perceive by their senses, are 
in agreement with their wisdom, because they are cor- 
respondences, and thence forms representative of such 
things as belong to wisdom. 

" How great the wisdom of the angels is, may be 
further evident from the fact, that in heaven there is a 
communication of all things, — the intelligence and wis- 
dom of one being communicated to another. Heaven is 
a communion of all good things, because heavenly love 
wills that what is its own should be another's; conse- 
quently no one in heaven perceives his own good in 
himself as good, unless it be also in another. Thence 
also is the happiness of heaven. The angels derive from 
the Lord this disposition to communicate, for such is the 
nature of the Divine Love. That there is such communi- 
cation in the heavens, has also been given me to know by 
experience. Certain simple spirits were once taken up 
into heaven ; and when there, they came also into angelic 
wisdom, and then understood things which they could 
9* 



102 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

not comprehend before, and spoke such things as they 
were unable to utter in their former state. 

" The wisdom of the angels in comparison with human 
wisdom, is as a myriad to one, — comparatively as the 
moving forces of the whole body, which are innumerable, 
are to the action resulting from them, wherein to human 
sense they appear as one ; or as the thousand things per- 
taining to an object as seen through a perfect microscope, 
to the one obscure thing which it appears to the naked 
eye. To illustrate the subject by an example : 

"An angel from his wisdom explained regeneration, 
and made known arcana concerning it in their order 
even to some hundreds, filling each one with ideas which 
contained arcana still more interior, — and this from be- 
ginning to end ; for he explained how the spiritual man 
is conceived anew, is carried as it were in the womb, is 
born, grows up, and is successively perfected. He said 
that he could increase the number of arcana even to some 
thousands ; and that he had only mentioned those con- 
cerning the regeneration of the external man, and that 
there were innumerably more concerning the regeneration 
of the internal. From this and other similar examples 
which I have heard from the angels, it was made mani- 
fest to me how great is their wisdom, and how great, 
respectively, the ignorance of man. 

" The angels of the inmost heaven never reason about 
divine truths, still less do they dispute about any truth, 
whether it be so or not so ; nor do they know what it is 



THE WISDOM OF THE ANGELS. 103 

to believe or have faith. They say, What is faith? for I 
perceive and see that it is so. This they illustrate by 
comparisons, saying, that, to urge a man to have faith, 
who sees the truth in himself, is like saying to one who 
sees a house and the various things in and around it, that 
he ought to have faith in them, and believe that they are 
just as he sees ; or it is like telling a man who sees a gar- 
den with its trees and fruits, that he ought to have faith 
that it is a garden, and that the trees and fruits are trees 
and fruits, when yet he sees them plainly with his own 
eyes. 

"The angels of the inmost heaven do not store up 
divine truths in the memory; thus they do not make any- 
thing like a science of them ; but as soon as they hear 
them they perceive them to be truths, and commit them 
to life. Divine truths therefore remain with them as if 
inscribed on their interiors ; for what is committed to the 
life thus abides internally. But it is otherwise with the 
angels of the lowest heaven. 

"An additional reason — which also is the primary one 
in heaven — why the angels are capable of receiving such 
exalted wisdom, is, because they are free from self-love ; 
for in proportion as any one is free from that love, he is 
capable of becoming wise in things divine. It is that 
love which closes the interiors against the Lord and 
heaven, and opens the exteriors and turns them toward 
self. Wherefore all those with whom that love predomi- 
nates are in thick darkness as to the things of heaven, 



104 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

however enlightened they may be as to those of the world. 
But angels on the other hand, because they are free from 
self-love, are in the light of wisdom ; for the heavenly 
loves in which they are, which are love to the Lord and 
love toward the neighbor, open the interiors ; because 
those loves are from the Lord, and the Lord Himself is 
in them. 

"The angels are continually perfecting in wisdom; 
but yet they cannot to eternity be so far perfected, that 
there can be any ratio between their wisdom and the 
divine wisdom of the Lord; for the* divine wisdom of 
the Lord is infinite, and between the infinite and the 
finite there is no ratio." — Ibid. 266-273. 



ANGELIC INNOCENCE. 

"The innocence of infancy, or of little children, is 
not genuine innocence, for it exists only in the external 
form, and not in the internal. Nevertheless we may learn 
from that what innocence is, for it shines forth from their 
faces, from some of their gestures, and from their earliest 
speech, and affects those around them. The reason is 
that they have no internal thought ; for they do not yet 
know what is good or evil, nor what is true or false; and 
from these, thought is derived. 

"The innocence of wisdom is genuine innocence, 
because it is internal ; for it belongs to the mind itself, 
thus to the will itself, and thence to the understanding; 



ANGELIC INNOCENCE. 105 

and when innocence is in these, there is also wisdom, for 
wisdom pertains to the will and understanding. Hence 
it is said in heaven that innocence dwells in wisdom, and 
that an angel has as much of wisdom as he has of inno- 
cence. That such is the case, they confirm by this : that 
those who are in a state of innocence attribute nothing 
of good to themselves, but regard all their goods as gifts 
received, and ascribe them to the Lord; that they wish 
to be led by Him, and not by themselves; that they love 
everything which is good, and are delighted with every- 
thing which is true ; because they know and perceive that 
to love what is good, thus to will and to do it, is to love 
the Lord ; and to love what is true, is to love their 
neighbor; that they live contented with their own, 
whether it be little or much, because they know that they 
receive as much as is profitable for them ; little, if little 
be profitable, and much, if much be profitable ; and that 
they do not themselves know what is best for them, this 
being known only to the Lord, whose providence in all 
things contemplates eternal ends. Hence they are not 
anxious about the future. They call solicitude about the 
future, care for the morrow, which they say is grief for 
the loss or non-reception of things which are not neces- 
sary for the uses of life. In their intercourse with others 
they never act from an evil end, but from what is good, 
just and sincere. To act from an evil end they call cun- 
ning, which they shun as the poison of a serpent, since it 
is altogether contrary to innocence. Because they love 



106 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

nothing more than to be led of the Lord, and acknowl- 
edge their indebtedness to Him for everything they 
receive, therefore they are removed from their proprium ; 
and in the degree that they are removed from their pro- 
prium, in the same degree the Lord flows-in. Hence it 
is, that whatever they hear from Him, whether through 
the medium of the Word or of preaching, they do not 
store up in the memory, but immediately obey ; that is, 
they will and do it, — the will itself being their memory. 
" Because innocence consists in being led by the Lord 
and not by self, therefore all who are in heaven are in 
innocence ; for all who are there love to be led by the 
Lord. They know, indeed, that to lead themselves, is to 
be led by the proprium, and the proprium consists in 
loving one's self; and he who loves himself, does not 
permit another to lead him. Hence it is, that as far as 
an angel is in innocence he is in heaven, that is, in divine 
good and divine truth ; for to be in these is to be in 
heaven. The heavens, therefore, are distinguished ac- 
cording to innocence."— Ibid. 277-280. 



HEAVENLY PEACE. 

" He who has not experienced the peace of heaven, 
can have no conception of that' which the angels enjoy 
in heaven. Peace is the Divine inmostly affecting with 
blessedness every good there ; yea, it is the source of all 
the joy of heaven ; and in its essence it is the divine joy 



HEAVENLY PEACE. 10/ 

of the Lord's divine love, resulting from the conjunction 
of Himself with heaven and with every one there. This 
joy — perceived by the Lord in angels, and by angels 
from the Lord — is peace. Hence by derivation the 
angels have all that is blessed, delightful and happy, or 
that which is called heavenly joy. 

"Innocence and peace dwell together like good and 
its delight, as may be seen in the case of little children, 
who, because they are in innocence, are also in peace; 
ind because they are in peace, therefore they are full of 
playfulness ; but their peace is external ; for internal 
peace, like internal innocence, is not given except in 
wisdom, and therefore in the conjunction of good and 
truth, — for this is the origin of wisdom. Heavenly or 
angelic peace exists also with men who are in wisdom 
from the conjunction of good and truth, and are thence 
conscious of content in God ; yet while they live in the 
world, that peace lies stored up in their interiors, but is 
revealed when they leave the body and enter heaven ; for 
then the interiors are opened. 

"I have conversed with the angels about peace; and 
I remarked that it is called peace in the world, w T hen 
wars and hostilities cease between kingdoms, and when 
enmity and discord cease among men ; and that internal 
peace is believed to consist in a repose of mind arising 
from the removal of cares, and especially in tranquillity 
and delight from success in business. But the angels said, 
that repose of mind, and tranquillity and delight arising 



108 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

from the removal of cares and from success in business, 
appear to be the constituents of peace, but are not so, 
except with those who are in heavenly good, since there 
is no peace except in that good ; for peace flows-in from 
the Lord into the inmost degree of their minds, and 
from their inmost it descends and flows down into the 
lower degrees, and produces repose of the rational mind 
[wens'], tranquillity of the natural mind [animus] and joy 
thence. 

" But they who are in evil have no peace. There 
appears, indeed, something like rest, tranquillity, and 
delight, when things succeed according to their wishes, 
but it is external and not internal ; for internally they 
burn with enmity, hatred, revenge, cruelty, and many 
other evil lusts, into which their external mind also 
rushes — bursting forth into violence if unrestrained by 
fear — the moment they see any one who is not favorable 
to them." — Ibid. 284-290. 

ANGELS AND DEVILS FROM THE HUMAN RACE. 

Creation commences on the lowest plane, and ad- 
vances steadily upward. That which is first in the order 
of importance, is always last in the order of time. The 
stem and leaves come before the fruit. The child pre- 
cedes the man ; and the lowest and sensuous part of our 
nature unfolds before the rational and spiritual. And, 
by parity of reasoning, we may conclude that heaven is 



ORIGIN OF ANGELS AND DEVILS. IO9 

but the full unfolding of earth, and angels but perfected 
men. Therefore all in the spiritual world should have 
commenced their existence on earth. Reason and anal- 
ogy force upon us this conclusion. And with this 
conclusion accords the testimony of Swedenborg. He 
says : 

"It is altogether unknown in the Christian world that 
heaven and hell are from the human race ; for it is believed 
that angels were created from the beginning, and that 
this was the origin of heaven ; and that the devil or satan 
was an angel of light, but because he became rebellious, 
he was cast down with his crew ; and that this was the 
origin of hell. The angels wonder very much that such 
a belief should prevail in the Christian world, and still 
more that nothing whatever is known about heaven, 
when yet it is a primary point of doctrine in the church. 
Therefore they desire me to declare positively from their 
mouths, that there is not a single angel in the universal 
heaven who was originally created such, nor any devil in 
hell who was created an angel of light and cast down ; 
but that all, both in heaven and in hell, are from the 
human race ; in heaven, those who lived in the world 
in heavenly love and faith ; in hell, those who lived in 
infernal love and faith ; and that hell in the whole com- 
plex is what is called the devil and satan. 

1 ' That heaven is from the human race may be further 
evident from this, that angelic minds and human minds 
are similar. Both enjoy the faculty of understanding, 
10 



110 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

perceiving and willing. Both are formed to receive 
heaven ; for the human mind is capable of wisdom as 
well as the angelic mind ; but it does not become so wise 
in the world, because it is in an earthly body, and in that 
the spiritual mind thinks naturally. But it is otherwise 
when released from its connection with that body. Then 
it no longer thinks naturally, but spiritually ; and when it 
thinks spiritually, then it thinks things incomprehensible 
and ineffable to the natural man ; thus it becomes wise 
as an an gel.' * — Ibid. 311, 314. 

But this, as you well know, is very different from the 
doctrine on this subject generally accepted a hundred 
years ago. 

A HE A VEN FOR GENTILES. 

The theologians of Swedenborg's day were quite unan- 
imous in the opinion that, without a knowledge and be- 
lief of the Christian Scriptures, salvation is not possible. 
But not many intelligent Christians, nowadays, really 
believe that the millions who are born and die in hea- 
then lands, are to " perish everlastingly." Such an idea 
is shocking. And what a monster of cruelty would it 
show the Creator of these millions to be ! How much 
more agreeable to both the dictates of enlightened reason 
and the teachings of Holy Scripture, is the following 
explicit testimony of Swedenborg : 

" It is a common opinion that those who are born out 



A HE A VEN FOR GENTILES. 1 1 1 

of the church, who are called Heathen or Gentiles, cannot 
be saved ; because they have not the Word, and thus are 
ignorant of the Lord, without whom there can be no sal- 
vation. Nevertheless it may be known that they also are 
saved, from these considerations alone : That the mercy 
of the Lord is universal, that is, extended toward every 
individual ; that they are born men as well as those within 
the church, who are respectively few ; and that it is no 
fault of theirs that they are ignorant of the Lord. Every 
person who thinks from any enlightened reason, may see 
that no man is born for hell ; for the Lord is love itself, 
and it is agreeable to his love that all be saved. Where- 
fore also He has provided that all shall have some kind 
of religion, and thereby be in the acknowledgment of a 
Divine, and in the enjoyment of interior life : for to live 
according to religion is to live interiorly ; for then man 
looks up to a Divine. 

" That Gentiles are saved as well as Christians, may be 
known to those who understand what it is that makes 
heaven in man. For heaven is in man, and those who 
have heaven in themselves enter heaven after death. It 
is heaven in man to acknowledge a Divine, and to be led 
by Him. The first and primary thing of every religion 
is, to acknowledge a Divine. A religion which does not 
include this acknowledgment, is no religion at all. And 
the precepts of every religion have respect to worship ; 
thus they teach how the Divine is to be worshiped in a 
manner acceptable to Him ; and when this is settled in 



112 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

one's mind, yea, in the degree that he wills or loves it, in 
that degree he is- led by the Lord. It is known that Gen- 
tiles live a moral life as well as Christians; and that many 
of them live better than Christians. Men live a moral 
life either for the sake of the Divine, or from a regard to 
the opinion of the world. The moral life which is lived 
for the sake of the Divine is spiritual life. 

"I have often been instructed that Gentiles who have 
led a moral life, have lived in obedience and subordina- 
tion, and in mutual charity according to their religion, 
and have therefore received something of conscience, are 
accepted in the other life, and are there instructed with- 
anxious care l}y angels in the goods and truths of faith ; 
and that, while under instruction, they behave themselves 
modestly, intelligently and wisely, and willingly receive 
truths, and are imbued with them; besides, they have 
formed to themselves no principles of the false contrary 
to the truths of faith, which are to be shaken off, much 
less scandals against the Lord, — like many Christians 
who cherish no other idea of Him than that of a common 
man. It is a divine truth, that without the Lord there is 
no salvation ; but this is to be understood to mean that 
there is no salvation but from the Lord. There are many 
earths in the universe, and all of them full of inhabitants. 
Scarcely any there know that the Lord assumed the Hu- 
man on our earth. Nevertheless, because they adore the 
Divine under a human form, they are accepted and led 
of the Lord. 



CHILDREN IN HE A VEN 1 1 3 

"The church of the Lord is spread over the whole ter- 
restrial globe, and is thus universal. It embraces all who 
have lived in the good of charity according to their re- 
ligious belief. And the church where the Word is, and 
where by means of it the Lord is known, is, to those who 
are out of the church, as the heart and lungs in man, from 
which all the viscera and members of the body live va- 
riously according to their forms, situations and connec- 
tions." — Ibid. 318-328. 



CHILDREN IN HEAVEN. 

Not only did Christians, a hundred years ago, gener- 
ally believe and teach that the millions who die in Hea- 
then lands unconverted to Christianity, are doomed to a 
state of everlasting torment, but the equally unreason- 
able and monstrous doctrine of the eternal damnation of 
multitudes dying in infancy and childhood, was as gener- 
ally taught and accepted for the truth. You, doubtless, 
are sufficiently familiar with the religious beliefs of that 
period, to know that this dogma was then held by every 
branch of the Christian church, both Protestant and 
Catholic. If you are not, I refer you to Part I. of my 
little work entitled "Beauty for Ashes,' ' wherein you 
will find abundant authorities cited or referred to in jus- 
tification of this statement. 

But no Christian minister ever thinks of preaching this 
doctrine nowadays, however fairly it may be deduced 
10* H 



1 14 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

from some other portions of his creed ; or, if he should, 
he would, I doubt not, soon be compelled to preach it to 
vacant pews. No enlightened congregation would listen 
to it. It is the universal belief of the churches now, that 
all who die in infancy and childhood, go among the blest 
and are eternally happy. And you and I and all others 
rejoice at this. We hail it as one of the signs of reli- 
gious progress. But what has wrought this universal 
change of sentiment ? Who first advanced the idea that 
all who die in infancy and childhood, go to heaven? 
Emanuel Swedenborg — the man whose heavenly mission 
is as generally discredited by the Christian teachers of 
our day, as was the mission of Christ by the Jewish 
teachers eighteen centuries ago. In his chapter on "In- 
fants in Heaven," written one hundred and fourteen years 
ago, he says : 

" Some believe that only the infants who are born 
within the church go to heaven, but not those born out 
of the church ; and the reason they assign is, that infants 
within the church are baptized, and are thus initiated into 
the faith of the church. But they are not aware that no 
one receives heaven or faith by baptism, for baptism is 
only for a sign and memorial that man is to be regener- 
ated ; and that he can be regenerated who is born within 
the church, since there is the Word which contains the 
divine truths by means of which regeneration is effected ; 
there also the Lord is known, by whom it is accom- 
plished. Be it known, therefore, that every infant, 



CHILDREN IN HE A VEN 1 1 5 

wheresoever born, — whether within the church or out 
of it, whether of pious or impious parents, — when he 
dies, is received by the Lord, and educated in heaven. 
He is there instructed according to divine order, and is 
imbued with affections of good, and by them with the 
knowledge of truth; and afterward, as he is perfected 
in intelligence and wisdom, he is introduced into heaven 
and becomes an angel. 

"Everyone after his decease, is in a similar state* of 
life to that in which he was in the world : an infant in a 
state of infancy \ a boy in a state of boyhood ; a youth, a 
man, an old man, in the state of a youth, of a man, and 
of an old man. But the state of every one is afterwards 
changed. The state of infants, however, excels that of 
all others in this respect, that they are in innocence, and 
evil from actual life has not yet taken root in them. 
And such is the nature of innocence, that all things of 
heaven may be implanted in it ; for it is the receptacle 
of the truth of faith and of the good of love. 

"As soon as infants are raised from the dead, which 
takes place immediately after their decease, they are taken 
into heaven, and committed to the care of angels of the 
female sex, who in the life of the body loved little chil- 
dren tenderly, and at the same time loved God. Because 
these angels when in the world loved all infants from a 
sort of maternal tenderness, they receive them as their 
own ; and the little ones also, from an inclination im- 
planted in them, love them as their own mothers.' ' 



Il6 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

Observe, too, that the reported method of teaching 
little children in the other world, is the very same as that 
recently adopted by the best educators here on earth, and 
known as "the object method." 

"How infants are educated in heaven shall also be 
briefly told. Into their affections, which all proceed 
from innocence, are first insinuated such things as appear 
before their eyes, and are delightful ; and as these are 
from a spiritual origin, the things of heaven flow into them 
at the same time, by means of which their interiors are 
opened ; and thus they become more perfect every day. 
They are instructed chiefly by representatives suited to 
their capacities, which are so beautiful, and at the same 
time so full of wisdom from an interior ground, as to 
exceed all belief. 

1 ' Many persons may imagine that infants remain such 
in heaven, and exist as infants among the angels. They 
who do not know what constitutes an angel, may have 
confirmed themselves in this opinion from the images 
sometimes seen in churches, where angels are exhibited 
as infants. But the case is altogether otherwise. Intelli- 
gence and wisdom constitute an angel; and so long as 
infants have not intelligence and wisdom, they are not 
angels, although they are with angels. But when they 
become intelligent and wise, then for the first time they 
become angels. Yea, — a thing that I have wondered at, 
— they then no longer appear as infants, but as adults ; 
for they are then no longer of an infantile genius, but of 



CHILDREN IN HE A VEN. 1 1 J 

a more mature angelic genius. Intelligence and wisdom 
produce this effect. As infants are perfected in intelli- 
gence and wisdom, they appear more mature, thus as 
youths and young men, because intelligence and wisdom 
are real spiritual nourishment. For this reason the things 
which nourish their minds nourish their bodies also, — 
and this from correspondence; for the form of the body 
is but the external form of the interiors. It is to be ob- 
served that infants in heaven do not advance in age be- 
yond the period of early manhood ; and there they stop 
forever [/. e. so far as apparent progress in age is con- 
cerned]. 

"Little children [in heaven] do not know that they 
were born in the world, but think that they were born in 
heaven. Consequently they know nothing of any birth 
but the spiritual birth, which is effected by the knowledge 
of good and truth, and by intelligence and wisdom, by 
virtue of which man is man ; and because these are from 
the Lord, they believe and love to believe that they are 
the children of the Lord Himself. 

" Nevertheless the state of men who grow up on earth, 
may become just as perfect as the state of those who grow 
up in heaven from a state of infancy, provided they re- 
move corporeal and terrestrial loves — which are the loves 
of self and the world — and in their place receive spiritual 
loves. " — Ibid. 329-345. 



Il8 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 



RICH AND POOR IN HEAVEN 

If we accept the teaching of Scripture according to the 
sense of the letter, we must believe that a rich man can 
never enter heaven; for we read that, "it is easier for a 
camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich 
man to enter into the kingdom of God;" — which is 
equivalent to saying that the entrance of such a man into 
that kingdom, is utterly out of the question. Yet the 
eagerness with which even religious people strive to amass 
wealth, proves that there is (as well there may be) an 
almost universal distrust of the literal verity of this Scrip- 
ture. The following is the sensible way in which Swe- 
denborg writes on the subject : 

"There are various opinions about reception into 
heaven. Some suppose that the poor are received and 
not the rich ; others, that the rich and poor are received 
alike ; and others, that the rich cannot be received unless 
they give up their wealth and become as the poor ; and 
each proves his opinion from the Word. 

"But they who make a distinction between the rich and 
poor as to their facility of admission into heaven, do not 
understand the Word. The Word in its bosom is spiritual, 
but in the letter it is natural. Therefore they who take 
the Word merely according to its literal and not accord- 
ing to its spiritual sense, err upon many points; as,, in sup- 
posing that it is as difficult for the rich to enter heaven as 
for a camel to go through the eye of a needle; and that it 



RICH AND POOR IN HE A VEN 1 1 9 

is easy for the poor because they are poor, since it is said : 
'Blessed are the poor, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. ' 
Matt. v. 3; Luke vi. 20, 21. But they who know any- 
thing of the spiritual sense of the Word, are of a different 
opinion, 

" From much conversation and intercourse with the 
angels, it has been granted me to know for a certainty 
that the rich enter heaven as easily as the poor ; that no 
man is excluded on account of his great possessions, and 
that no one is received because he is poor. Both rich 
and poor are there. 

"A man may acquire riches as far as opportunity is 
given him, provided it be not done with craft and dis- 
honesty; he may eat and drink daintily, provided he 
does not make life consist in that ; he may dwell magni- 
ficently according to his condition ; he may converse 
w T ith others as others do ; he may frequent places of 
amusement, and talk about worldly affairs; and has no 
need to assume a devout aspect, to be of a sad and sor- 
rowful countenance, and to bow down his head, but may 
be glad and cheerful. 

"And these things will not prevent his going to heaven, 
provided that inwardly in himself he thinks properly 
about God, and acts sincerely and justly with his neigh- 
bor. For man is such as his affection and thought are, 
or such as his love and faith are. All his outward acts 
derive their life from these ; for to act is to will, and to 
speak is to think, since every one acts from will and 
speaks from thought. 



120 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

" Hence it may be manifest that the love of riches, 
and of the uses to be performed by riches, remains with 
every one to eternity, and that it is altogether such as 
was procured in the world ; yet with this difference, that 
with those who had employed them in the promotion of 
good uses, riches are turned into delights according to 
the uses ; but with those who had employed them in the 
promotion of evil uses, they are turned into filth. Then 
also the evil are delighted with such filth, in like manner 
as in the world they were delighted with riches for the 
sake of evil uses. They are then delighted with filth, 
because the filthy pleasures and infamies which were 
the uses to which they applied their riches, and also 
avarice, which is the love of riches without regard to use, 
correspond to filth. Spiritual filth is nothing else. 

"The poor do not go to heaven on account of their 
poverty, but on account of their life. Every one's life 
[/. e. his character] follows him, whether he be rich or 
poor. There is no peculiar mercy for one more than for 
another. He who has lived well is received, and he who 
has lived ill is rejected. 

" Besides, poverty seduces and withdraws man from 
heaven as much as wealth. Great numbers among the 
poor are not contented with their lot, but are eager after 
many things, and believe riches to be blessings. They 
are angry, therefore, when they do not receive them, 
and think evil concerning the Divine Providence., They 
also envy others the good things which they possess. 



MARRIA GES IN HE A FEN. 1 2 1 



Besides, they are as ready as the wicked among the rich 
to defraud others, and to live in sordid pleasures when 
they have the opportunity. But it is otherwise with the 
poor who are content with their lot, who are faithful and 
diligent in their calling, who love labor better than idle- 
ness, who act sincerely and honestly, and live a Christian 
life."— Ibid. 357~3 6 4. 



MARRIAGES IN HEAVEN. 

The prevailing idea among Christians a hundred years 
ago, was, that sex cannot be predicated of the soul ; and 
that, consequently, there are no sexes in the other world ; 
and hence there can be no marriages there. But the 
unreasonableness of this is every day becoming more and 
more apparent to thoughtful minds. Reflecting people 
in all the churches are coming to see the absurdity of 
supposing that the death of the body will destroy the dis- 
tinction of sex, or work any change in it whatever. The 
truth is beginning to be widely accepted, that man and 
woman differ not a whit less in their souls than in their 
bodies ; that sex belongs to the former as much as to the 
latter ; that they are the complements of each other, and 
necessary to each other's wholeness. If this be reason- 
able, ' then is it not equally reasonable that marriages 
should take place in heaven ? — more blissful and perfect, 
too, than most of the marriages on earth, because be- 
tween regenerate souls, who from their very constitution 
ii 



t 

122 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

are the complements of each other, and each therefore 
necessary to the other's completeness.* 

Hear, now, the testimony of Swedenborg, who is not 
giving us his opinion, remember, but speaks "from things 
heard and seen." 

"Because heaven is from the human race, and the 
angels of heaven are therefore of both sexes; and be- 
cause it was ordained from creation that the woman 
should be for the man and the man for the woman, and 
thus that each should be the other's; and because this 
love is innate in both ; it follows that there are marriages 
in heaven asswell as on earth. But marriages in heaven 
are very different from those on earth. 

" Marriage in heaven is the conjoining of two into one 
mind. What this conjunction is shall be explained. 
The mind consists of two parts, one of which is called 
the understanding, the other the will. When these two 
parts act in unity, they are then called one mind. In 
heaven the husband acts that part which is called the 
understanding, and the wife that which is called the will. 
When this conjunction, which is of the interiors, descends 
into the inferiors, which are of the body, it is perceived 

* Our Saviour's language to the Sadducees may seem in conflict 
with this; and in its literal sense, or as commonly understood, it un- 
questionably is. But those who desire to know the spiritual and true 
meaning of the words, " For in the resurrection they neither marry 
nor are given in marriage," &c, are referred to an interesting work 
by Dr. W. H. Holcombe, entitled " The Sexes Here and Hereafter," 
Chapter III. — where they will find it fully explained. 



MARRIA GES IN HE A VEN. I 2 3 

and felt as love. This love is conjugial love. Hence it 
is evident, that conjugial love derives its origin from the 
conjunction of two into one mind. This is called in 
heaven cohabitation ; and it is said that they are not two 
but one. Therefore two married partners in heaven are 
not called two but one angel. 

" That there is also such a conjunction of husband and 
wife in the inmosts of their minds, results from creation 
itself; for the man is born to be intellectual, thus to think 
from the understanding ; but the woman is born to be 
voluntary, thus to think from the will. 

" Every one — man as well as woman — possesses 
understanding and will ; but still with the man the 
understanding predominates, and with the woman the 
will ; and the character of a person is determined by 
that which predominates. But .in marriages in heaven 
there is no predominance ; for the will of the wife is also 
that of the husband, and the understanding of the hus- 
band is also that of the wife ; since each loves to will 
and to think as the other, thus mutually and reciprocally. 
Hence their conjunction into one. From these consider- 
ations it may be manifest that the conjunction of minds, 
which makes marriage and produces conjugial love in 
heaven, consists in this: that each one wishes all he has 
to be the other's; and this reciprocally. 

"I have been told by the angels, that as far as two 
married partners are in such conjunction, they are in 
conjugial love ; and at the same time in the like degree 



124 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

in intelligence, wisdom and happiness, because divine 
good and divine truth, from which all intelligence, wis- 
dom and happiness are derived, flow principally into 
conjugial love; consequently that conjugial love is the 
very plane of the divine influx. 

" I once heard an angel describing love truly conjugial 
and its heavenly delights, in this manner : that it is the 
Divine of the Lord in heaven — which is the divine good 
and the divine truth — united in two beings, yet in such 
a manner that they are not two but as one. He said that 
two conjugial partners in heaven are that love — because 
every one is his own good and his own truth — with 
respect to mind as well as body ; for the body is the 
effigy of the mind, because formed in its likeness. Hence 
he concluded that the Divine is effigied in two, who are 
in love truly conjugial. And because the Divine is effigied 
in them, so also is heaven, — for the universal heaven is 
the divine good and the divine truth proceeding from the 
Lord ; and that hence all things of heaven are inscribed 
on that love, with beatitudes and delights more than can 
be numbered. He expressed the number by a term which 
involves myriads of myriads. 

" They are in conjugial love who are in divine good 
from divine truths; and conjugial love is so far genuine as 
the truths which are conjoined to good are genuine. And 
because all good which is conjoined to truths is from the 
Lord, it follows that no one can be in love truly conjugial, 
unless he acknowledge the Lord and his Divine ; for with- 



MA RRIA GES IN HE A VEN. 1 2 5 

out this acknowledgment the Lord cannot flow-in, and be 
conjoined with the truths which are with man. 

" From these remarks it is evident that they are not in 
conjugial love who are in falsities, and still less they who 
are in falsities derived from evil. 

" Nor is love truly conjugial possible between one hus- 
band and more wives than one; for this destroys its spir- 
itual origin, which is the formation of one mind out of 
two; consequently it destroys interior conjunction, which 
is that of good and truth, from which is the very essence 
of conjugial love. Marriage with more than one wife is 
like an understanding divided among more wills than 
one ; and like a man who is attached to more churches 
than one, whereby his faith is so distracted that it becomes 
no faith. The angels say, that to have a plurality of wives 
is altogether contrary to divine order; and that they know 
this from many causes ; and from this among others, that as 
soon as they think of marriage with more than one, they are 
estranged from internal blessedness and heavenly felicity. 

"The love of exercising dominion one over the other, 
completely takes away conjugial love and its heavenly 
delight; for, as was said above, conjugial love and its 
delight consist in this, that the will of one be that of the 
other, and this mutually and reciprocally. The love of 
dominion in marriage destroys this ; for he who domi- 
neers wishes that his will alone should be in the other, 
and none of the other's reciprocally in himself; hence 
there is nothing mutual, consequently no reciprocal com- 
ii* 



126 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

munication of one's love and its delight with the other ; 
yet this communication, and thence conjunction, is the 
interior delight itself in marriage, which is called blessed- 
ness. The love of dominion completely extinguishes this 
blessedness, and with it all celestial and spiritual love. 

"Marriages in heaven differ from marriages on earth in 
this respect : that, besides other uses, marriages on earth 
are for the procreation of offspring, but not in heaven ; 
there, instead of such procreation, there is the procreation 
of good and truth. This procreation is instead of the 
former, because marriage in heaven is the marriage of 
good and truth, — as was shown above, — and in that 
marriage, good and truth and their conjunction are loved 
above all else ; these, therefore, are what are propagated 
from marriages in heaven. Hence it is that by nativities 
and generations in the Word are signified spiritual nativ- 
ities and generations, which are those of good and truth. 

" How marriages are contracted in heaven, I have also 
been allowed to see. Everywhere in heaven those who 
are alike are associated, and those who are unlike are dis- 
sociated. Hence every society of heaven consists of like 
ones. They who are alike are brought together, not of 
themselves but of the Lord. In like manner conjugial 
partners, whose minds are capable of being conjoined 
into one, are drawn together. Therefore at first sight 
they deeply love each other, and see that they are con- 
jugial partners, and enter into marriage. Hence it is that 
all the marriages in heaven are of the Lord alone. They 



MARRIA GES IN HE A VEN. 1 2*J 

also hold a festival on the occasion, which is attended by 
a numerous company. The festivities differ in different 
societies. 

"The angels regard marriages on earth as most holy, 
because they are the seminaries of the human race, and 
also of the angels of heaven, — for, as was shown above 
in its proper chapter, heaven is from the human race; 
also because they are from a spiritual origin, namely, 
from the marriage of good and truth ; and because the 
Divine of the Lord flows primarily into conjugial love. 
And on the other hand, they regard adulteries as profane, 
because they are contrary to conjugial love ; for as in 
marriages the angels behold the marriage of good and 
truth, which is heaven, so in adulteries they behold the 
marriage of the false and evil, which is hell. Therefore 
when they only hear adultery mentioned, they turn them- 
selves away. This also is the reason why heaven is closed 
against a man when he commits adultery from delight; 
and when heaven is closed, he no longer acknowledges the 
Divine, nor anything pertaining to the faith of the church. 

"That all w T ho are in hell are in opposition to con- 
jugial love, it has been given me to perceive from the 
sphere thence exhaling, which was like a perpetual en- 
deavor to dissolve and violate marriages. From this it 
was evident that the ruling delight in hell is the delight 
of adultery \ and that the delight of adultery is also the 
delight of destroying the conjunction of good and truth, 
which conjunction makes heaven. Hence it follows that 



128 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

the delight of adultery is an infernal delight, altogether 
opposed to the delight of marriage, which is a heavenly 
delight.' ' 

Tell me, my brother — Does this sound like the utter- 
ances of a dreamer? — or fanatic? — or one who has lost 
his mental balance ? Can you point me to any higher wis- 
dom touching the relation of the sexes and the nature of 
true marriage, than is contained in these few paragraphs ? 
Where, in the whole range of Christian literature prior 
to Swedenborg's time, will you find anything to compare 
with this ? Is it not altogether worthy of the origin 
claimed for it ? 



EMPLOYMENTS IN HEAVEN 

One hundred years ago, Christians were taught to be- 
lieve that the principal occupation of the saints in heaven 
was, preaching or listening to sermons, singing psalms 
and praying. Think of spending an eternity in this 
manner ! And then what valuable purpose could it sub- 
serve ? Would it add to the greatness or glory of God ? 
— or promote the happiness of his children in heaven or 
on earth? God desires our prayers and songs of praise, 
not for his glory, but for our own good \ and they are 
useful as a means of bringing our souls into nearness and 
sympathy with Him. But let any one engage in praying 
and singing as a constant employment, and let him pursue 
it steadily for three weeks — or even one — and he will, I 



EMPL O YMENTS IN HE A VEN. 1 29 

think, be disabused of the notion that verbal prayers and 
songs of praise are the chief occupation of the angels. He 
will learn from this brief experience the utter falsity of 
such an idea, — unless the laws of the soul and the condi- 
tions of happiness are to be totally different in the Here- 
after from what they are here. And he will be ready, I 
think, to accept the following disclosures by Swedenborg 
on this subject, as far more reasonable, as well as more 
profitable to the believer — more important and healthy 
in their practical tendency : 

"It is impossible to enumerate or describe specifically 
the employments of heaven, for they are innumerable and 
various according to the offices of the societies. Every 
one there performs a use ; for the kingdom of the Lord 
is a kingdom of uses. 

" There are in heaven as on earth various administra- 
tions ; for there are there ecclesiastical, civil and domes- 
tic affairs. And there are many employments and admin- 
istrations in every heavenly society. 

" The wiser angels take charge of those things belong- 
ing to the general good or use, and the less wise, of those 
relating to particular goods or uses ; and so on. They 
are subordinated, -just as in divine order uses are subordi- 
nated. Hence also dignity is attached to every employ- 
ment according to the dignity of the use. No angel, 
however, arrogates the dignity to himself, but ascribes it 
all to the use; and because use is the good which he 
does, and all good is from the Lord, therefore he ascribes 

I 



I30 LETTERS ON THE EUTURE LIFE, 

it all to the Lord. Wherefore he who thinks of honor 
for himself and thence for use, and not for use and thence 
for himself, cannot perform any office in heaven 3 be- 
cause he looks backward from the Lord, regarding him- 
self in the first place and use in the second. 

" There are societies in heaven whose employment 
consists in taking care of infants ; others whose employ- 
ment is to* instruct and educate them as they grow up; 
others who instruct and educate boys and girls of a good 
disposition from education in the world ; others who 
teach the simple good from the Christian world, and 
lead them in the way to heaven ; others who perform the 
same office for the various Gentile nations ; others who 
defend novitiate spirits — those who have recently come 
from the world — from infestations by evil spirits ; and 
some also who attend upon those who are being raised 
from the dead. In general, angels of every society are 
sent to men, that they may guard them, and withdraw 
them from evil affections and consequent evil thoughts, 
and inspire them with good affections so far as they re- 
ceive them freely. By means of these affections also they 
rule the deeds or works of men, removing from them 
evil intentions as far as possible. But all these employ- 
ments of the angels are functions performed by the Lord 
through them ; for the angels perform them, not from 
themselves, but from the Lord. 

" Ecclesiastical affairs in heaven are under the charge 
of those who, when in the world, loved the Word, and 



EMPL YMENTS IN HE A VEN. I 3 1 

earnestly sought for the truths which it contains, not for 
the sake of honor or gain, but for the sake of the use of 
life, both their own and others. These are in illustration 
and in the light of wisdom in heaven according to their 
love and desire of use ; for they come into that light in 
the heavens from the Word, which is not natural there as 
in the world, but spiritual. These perform the office of 
preachers. 

" Civil affairs are administered by those who, while in 
the world, loved their country and its general good in 
preference to their own ; and who did what is just and 
right from the love of justice and rectitude. Such men 
possess capacity for administering offices in heaven, in 
proportion as their love of rectitude has prompted them 
to inquire into the laws of justice, and thence to become 
intelligent. The offices which they administer corre- 
spond exactly to the degree of their intelligence ; and 
their intelligence is then in like degree also with their 
love of use for the general good. 

" There are so many offices and administrations in 
heaven, and so many employments also, that it is impos- 
sible to enumerate them on account of their multitude. 
Those in the world are comparatively few. All, how 
many soever there be, are in the delight of their occupa- 
tion, and labor from the love of use, and no one from 
the love of self or gain. Nor is any one influenced by 
the love of gain for the sake of maintenance, because all 
the necessaries of life are given them gratis, — their habi- 



132 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

tations, garments and food. Hence it is evident that 
they who have loved themselves and the world more than 
use, have no lot in heaven ; for every one's own love 01 
affection remains with him after his life in the world, nor 
is it extirpated to eternity. 

" Every one in heaven is in his work according to cor- 
respondence ; and the correspondence is not with the 
work, but with the use of every work ; and there is a 
correspondence of all things. He who is in an employ- 
ment or work in heaven corresponding to his use, is in a 
state of life exactly like that in which he was in the 
world, — for what is spiritual and what is natural act as 
one by correspondence — but with this difference : that 
he is in more interior delight, because in spiritual life 
which is interior life \ hence he is more receptive of 
heavenly blessedness." — Ibid. 387-394. 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN, 

In his last but one chapter of the work on " Heaven 
and its Wonders," Swedenborg treats of " Heavenly Joy 
and Happiness." As if he had said, ".Here I give you 
the final outcome or sum total of all that heavenly order 
and economy which has thus far been observed and dis- 
closed by me." 

I shall offer no excuse for making copious extracts 
from this chapter ; nor shall I enter into any argument 
to prove the statements true. If they do not, by their 



THE HAPPINESS OF HE A VEN. I 3 3 

intrinsic beauty, reasonableness, benign tendency, and 
obvious accord with your highest conceptions of the love 
and wisdom of God, as well as of the grand capabilities 
of the human soul and the final destiny of the righteous, 
commend themselves to your judgment, I do not believe 
that any argument I could offer would have weight with 
you. I submit these extracts, therefore, to your candor ; 
and leave you to judge whether they be, or be not, 
worthy the high origin claimed for them : 

" Every one may know that man, when he leaves the 
external or natural, comes into the internal or spiritual 
man. Hence it may be known that heavenly delight is 
internal and spiritual, not external and natural ; and 
because it is internal and spiritual, that it is purer and 
more exquisite than natural delight, and that it affects the 
interiors of a man which belong to his soul or spirit. 

" All delights flow from love; for what a man loves, 
he feels to be delightful ; nor is there delight from any 
other source. Hence it follows that such as the love is, 
such is the delight. The delights of the body or the flesh 
all flow from the love of self and the love of the world, 
whence also are lusts and their attendant pleasures ; but 
the delights of the soul or spirit all flow from love to 
the Lord and the neighbor, whence also are the affec- 
tions of good and truth, and interior satisfactions. These 
loves with their delights flow-in from the Lord and from 
heaven by an internal way, and affect the interiors. 

"Heaven in itself is so full of delights, that, viewed 

12 



134 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

in itself, it is nothing but delight and blessedness ; for 
the divine good proceeding from the Lord's divine love 
makes heaven both in general and in particular with 
every one there ; and the divine love wills the salvation 
and happiness of all. Hence it is, that whether we speak 
of heaven or of heavenly joy, it is the same thing. 

"The delights of heaven are ineffable and likewise 
innumerable. But innumerable as they are, not one can 
be known or believed by him who is in the mere delight 
of the body or the flesh ; since his interiors look from 
heaven to the world, thus backward. For he who is alto- 
gether in the delight of the body or the flesh, or what is 
the same, in the love of self and the world, feels no de- 
light but in honor, gain, and the pleasures of the body 
and the senses \ and these so extinguish and suffocate the 
interior delights which belong to heaven, as to destroy 
all belief in their existence. Such a man therefore would 
greatly wonder, if he were only told that when the 
delights of honor and gain are removed, other delights 
remain ; and still more if he were told that the delights 
of heaven which succeed in the place of them are in- 
numerable, and of such a nature that the delights of the 
body and flesh, which are principally those of honor and 
gain, cannot be compared with them. 

"How great the delight of heaven is, may appear 
from this circumstance alone : that it is delightful to all 
there to communicate their delights and blessings to each 
other. And because all in heaven are of this character, 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 1 35 

it is obvious how immense is the delight of heaven ; for 
there is in heaven a communication of all with each, and 
of each with all. Such communication flows from the 
two loves of heaven, which, as was said, are love to the 
Lord and the neighbor; and it is the nature of these 
loves to communicate their delights. Love to the Lord 
is of this nature, because the Lord's love is the love of 
communicating all that He has to all his creatures, for He 
wills the happiness of all ; and a similar love is in each 
of those who love Him, because the Lord is in them. 
Hence there is with the angels a mutual communication 
of their delights to each other. That love toward the 
neighbor is also of a similar quality, will be seen in what 
follows. From these considerations it is evident that it is 
the nature of these loves to communicate their delights. 

"The man who is in love to God and his neighbor, 
does not, so long as he lives in the body, feel a manifest 
delight from these loves and from the good affections 
thence derived; but only a blessedness almost impercep- 
tible, because it is stored up in his interiors, and veiled by 
the exteriors which belong to the body, and blunted by 
worldly cares. But his state is changed after death. The 
obscure delight and almost imperceptible blessedness 
which had been enjoyed by those in the world who were 
in love to God and the neighbor, are then turned into 
the delight of heaven, which becomes perceptible and 
sensible in all manner of ways ; for that blessedness which 
lay stored up and hidden in their interiors when they 



I36 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

lived in the world, is then revealed and brought forth 
into manifest sensation ; because they are then in the 
spirit, and that was the delight of their spirit. 

"All the delights of heaven are conjoined with uses, 
and are inherent in them ; because uses are the goods of 
love and charity in which the angels are. Therefore 
every one has delights corresponding in quality with his 
use, and in degree with his love of use. 

"Certain spirits, from an opinion conceived in the 
world, believed heavenly happiness to consist in an idle 
life, and in being served by others. But they were told 
that happiness by no means consists in mere rest from 
employment, because every one would then desire that 
others' happiness should be his own ; and if every one 
had this desire, none would be happy. Such a life would 
not be active but indolent, and through indolence the 
faculties would become torpid ; when yet they might 
know, that without an active life there can be no happi- 
ness, and that cessation from employment is only for the 
sake of recreation, that one may return with greater 
alacrity to the active business of his life. 

"It was afterward shown by abundant evidence, that 
angelic life consists in performing works of charity, 
which are uses ; and that the angels find ail their happi- 
ness in use, from use and according to use. They who 
entertained the idea that heavenly joy consisted in living 
an idle life, and in breathing eternal delight ,without 
employment, were allowed to perceive the nature of such 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. 1 37 

a life, in order to make them ashamed ; and it was found 
to be extremely sad ; and after a short time — all joy hav- 
ing departed — they felt only disgust and loathing for it. 

" Some spirits who believed themselves better instructed 
than others, said that it was their belief in the world that 
heavenly joy consisted solely in praising and glorifying 
God ; and that this was an active life. But they were 
told that, to praise and glorify God is not such an active 
life ; and that God has no need of praises and glorifica- 
tion ; but that his will is that they perform uses, that is, 
the good works which are called goods of charity. But 
they could have no idea of heavenly joy in doing the 
good works of charity, but an idea of servitude. The 
angels however testified, that in the performance of such 
good works there is the highest freedom, because it pro- 
ceeds from interior affection, and is conjoined with in- 
effable delight. 

" Almost all who enter the other life, suppose that every 
one is in the same hell, or in the same heaven ; when yet 
there are infinite varieties and diversities in both. The 
hell of one is never precisely like that of another, nor is 
the heaven of one exactly the same as the heaven of an- 
other ; just as no man, spirit or angel, is ever exactly like 
another, even as to the face. When I only thought that 
two might be exactly alike or equal, the angels were 
astonished, saying that every whole \unum\ is formed by 
the harmonious agreement of many parts, and that the 
character of the whole is according to that agreement ; 
12 * 



I38 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE, 

and that therefore every society of heaven makes a one, 
and all the societies of heaven collectively ; and this from 
the Lord alone by love. 

"In like manner uses in heaven are according to all 
variety and diversity. The use of one angel is never 
exactly similar to, or the same as, that of another ; nor 
is the delight of one altogether like the delight of an- 
other. And further still, — the delights of every one's 
use are innumerable ; and those innumerable delights are 
in like manner various, but yet conjoined in such order 
that they mutually regard each other, like the uses of 
every member, organ and viscus in the body; and still 
more like the uses of every vessel and fibre in each mem- 
ber, organ and viscus, each and all of which are so con- 
nected together, that every one regards its own good in 
another; and thus each in all and all in each. From 
this universal and particular regard they act as one. 

"I have several times conversed with spirits who had 
recently come from the world, concerning the state of 
eternal life ; remarking that it is important to know who 
is the Lord of the kingdom, what the nature X)f the gov- 
ernment, and what its form ; for, as nothing is of greater 
moment to those in the world who remove to another 
kingdom, than to know who the king is and what his 
character, what the nature of his government, and many 
other particulars relating to that kingdom, so it is of still 
greater importance that such knowledge be had respecting 
this kingdom, in which they are to live to eternity. Let 



THE HAPPINESS OF HE A VEN. 1 39 

them know, therefore, that the Lord is the King who 
governs heaven, and also the universe, — for He who 
governs one governs the other; thus that the kingdom 
wherein they now are is the Lord's, and the laws of this 
kingdom are eternal truths which are all based upon this 
law, that they love the Lord above all things and their 
neighbor as themselves ; and still further, — if now they 
wished to be like the angels, — they ought to love their 
neighbor better -than themselves. 

" On hearing these things, they were unable to make 
any reply ; because in the life of the body they had heard 
something of the kind, but had not believed it. They 
marvelled that there should be such love in heaven, and 
that it were possible for any one to love his neighbor more 
than himself, But they were informed that all goods in- 
crease immensely in the other life ; and that man's life 
while in the body is such that he cannot go beyond loving 
his neighbor as himself, because he is in corporeal princi- 
ples j but when these are removed the love becomes more 
pure, and at length angelic, which is to love the neighbor 
more than themselves \ for in heaven it is delightful to 
do good to another, and not delightful to do good to 
one's self unless that the good may become another's, 
thus for the sake of another. This is to love the neigh- 
bor more than one's self. 

"I have conversed with spirits who supposed heaven 
and heavenly joy to consist in being great ; but they were 
told that in heaven he is greatest who is least, for he is 



140 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

called least who has no power and wisdom and desires to 
have none from himself, but from the Lord. He who is 
least in this sense, has the greatest happiness ; and because 
he has the greatest happiness, it thence follows that he is 
the greatest; for thus he has all power from the Lord, and 
excels all others in wisdom. And what is it to be the 
greatest, except to be most happy? — for to be most 
happy is what the powerful seek by power, and the rich 
by riches. They were further told that heaven does not 
consist in desiring to be the least with a view to being the 
greatest, — for then one sighs and longs to be the greatest, 
■ — but in cordially desiring the good of others more than 
one's own, and in serving them for the sake of their 
happiness, not with any selfish regard to recompense, but 
from love. 

"Heavenly joy itself, such as it is in its essence, cannot 
be described, because it is in the inmosts of the life of the 
angels, and thence in every particular of their thought and 
affection, and from these in every particular of their speech 
and action. It is as if their interiors were wide open and 
free to receive delight and blessedness, which is distributed 
to every single fibre, and thus throughout the whole frame. 
The perception and sensation of delight and blessedness 
thence resulting, surpass all description. 

" Certain spirits were desirous to know what heavenly 
joy is ; therefore they were allowed to perceive it to such 
a degree that they could bear it no longer. But still it 
was not angelic joy, — scarcely in the least degree an- 



THE HAPPINESS OF HEAVEN. I4I 

gelic. This was proved by its actual communication to 
me, when I perceived that it was so slight as almost to 
partake of something rather frigid \ and yet they called it 
most celestial, because it was their inmost joy. Hence it 
was manifest, not only that there are degrees of the joys 
of heaven, but also that the inmost joy of one scarcely 
approaches the ultimate or middle joy of another \ also, 
that when any one receives that which is the inmost to 
him, he is in his own heavenly joy, and cannot bear a 
more interior degree thereof without pain. 

" Almost all who enter the other life, are ignorant of 
the nature of heavenly blessedness, because they do not 
know what and of what quality internal joy is, forming 
their idea of it from corporeal and worldly joy and glad- 
ness. They are first conveyed to paradisiacal scenes which 
surpass every conception of the imagination. They now 
suppose that they have come into the heavenly paradise ; 
but they are taught that this is not, in reality, heavenly 
happiness. It is therefore granted them to experience the 
interior states of joy perceptible to their inmosts. They 
are then brought into a state of peace even to their in- 
mosts, when they confess that nothing of its nature can 
ever be expressed or conceived. 

" In order that I might know what and of what nature 
heaven and heavenly joy are, it has been often, and for a 
long time, granted me by the Lord to experience its de- 
lights. I perceived that the joy and delight came as from 
the heart, diffusing themselves very gently through all 



142 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

the inmost fibres, and thence into the collections of fibres, 
with such an inmost sense of enjoyment, that every fibre 
seemed as it were nothing but joy and delight ; and there- 
fore all the perceptive and sensitive faculties in like 
manner seemed alive with happiness. The joy of bodily 
pleasures, compared with those joys, is like coarse and 
offensive grime, compared with the pure and sweetest 
aura. I observed, too, that when I wished to transfer all 
my delight to another, there flowed-in continually a de- 
light more interior and full, in place of the former ; and 
the more intensely I desired to do this, the more abundant 
was the influx of this delight ; and this I perceived to be 
from the Lord. 

" The inhabitants of heaven are continually advancing 
toward the spring-time of life ; and the more thousands 
of years they live, the more delightful and happy is the 
spring to which they attain. And this goes on forever, 
with augmentations according to the progress and degrees 
of their love, charity, and faith. Those of the female 
sex, who have died old and worn out with age, and who 
have lived in faith in the Lord, in charity toward their 
neighbor, and in happy conjugial love with a husband, 
after a succession of years come more and more into the 
bloom of youth, and into a beauty surpassing every con- 
ception of beauty formed from that which the eye has 
ever seen. Goodness and charity are what mould their 
form, presenting it in their own likeness, and causing the 
beauty of charity to shine forth from every feature of the 



THE WA Y TO HEA VEN. 143 

face, so that they are themselves forms of charity; and 
this so exactly, that the whole angel, and especially the 
face, seems chanty itself. When this form is attentively 
surveyed, it is seen to be beauty ineffable, affecting with 
charity the very inmost life of the mind. 

"In a word, to grow old in heaven is to grow young. 
They who have lived in love to the Lord and in charity 
toward the neighbor, become such forms or such beauties 
in the other life. All the angels are such forms, with 
endless variety; and of these heaven consists." — Ibid. 
395-414. 

THE LIFE THAT LEADS TO HEAVEN. 

It was a prevalent idea in Swedenborg's day, that 
religion consisted chiefly if not entirely in formal acts of 
devotion — such as reading the Word and other religious 
books, repeating prayers, frequenting places of worship, 
singing psalms, receiving the sacrament, and the like. 
And those who spent most time in these exercises, were 
thought to be most truly religious, and pursuing the 
directest road to heaven. So completely had religion 
become divorced in thought from the common duties of 
every-day life !— so thoroughly driven out of the kitchen, 
the shop, the counting-house, the factory, the halls of 
legislation, and the seats of learning ! But Christians are 
now fast coming to see that this was a great mistake; that 
religion has to do with the affairs of this lower world ; 
and that there is no speedier or surer way to heaven, than 



144 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

through the faithful and conscientious discharge of out 
every-day duties, — for this is the way that angelhood is 
developed. And more than a hundred years ago, the 
seer of Stockholm wrote : 

" Some people imagine that to live the life which leads 
to heaven, which is called spiritual life, is difficult ; be- 
cause they have been told that man must renounce the 
world, and deprive himself of what are called the lusts 
of the body and the flesh, and must live in a spiritual 
manner. By this they understand that they must reject 
worldly things, which consist chiefly in riches and hon- 
ors; must live continually in pious meditation about God, 
salvation and eternal life, and spend their life in prayer 
and in reading the Word and books of piety. This they 
conceive to be renouncing the world, and living to the 
spirit and not to the flesh. 

"But that the case is altogether otherwise I have 
learned by much experience, and from conversation with 
the angels ; yea, I have learned that they who renounce 
the world and live in the spirit in this manner, procure to 
themselves a sorrowful life which is not receptive of 
heavenly joy; for every one's own life remains after 
death. But in order that man may receive the life of 
heaven, it is altogether necessary that he live in the world 
and engage in its duties and employments ; and that then 
by moral and civil life he receive spiritual life. In no 
other way can spiritual life be formed in man, or his 
spirit be prepared for heaven ; for to live an internal life 



THE IV AY TO HEAVEN, 145 

and not an external one at the same time, is like dwelling 
in a house which has no foundation, which successively 
either sinks into the ground, or becomes full of chinks 
and breaches, or totters till it falls. 

"I have been permitted to converse with some in the 
other life who had withdrawn themselves from the busi- 
ness of the world that they might live a pious and holy 
life ; and with others also who had afflicted themselves in 
various ways, because they imagined that this was to re- 
nounce the world and to subdue the lusts of the flesh. But 
the greater portion of these, having by such austerities 
contracted- a sorrowful life and removed themselves from 
the life of charity, which can only be lived in the world, 
cannot be associated with angels, because the life of the 
angels is one of gladness resulting from bliss, and con- 
sists in performing acts of goodness, which are works of 
charity. 

" Besides, they who have led a life withdrawn from 
worldly affairs are possessed with the idea of their own 
merit, and are thence continually desirous of being ad- 
mitted into heaven, and think of heavenly joy as a reward, 
being totally ignorant of what that joy is. And when 
they are admitted' among the angels, and to a perception 
of their joy, which is without the thought of merit, and 
consists in active duties and services freely performed, 
and in the blessedness arising from the good which they 
thereby promote, they are astonished like persons who 
witness things altogether foreign to their expectation ; 
13 K 



146 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE, 

and because they are not receptive of that joy, they de- 
part and associate with spirits like themselves, who have 
lived a similar life in the world. 

" But they who have lived in outward sanctity, contin- 
ually frequenting temples and there repeating prayers, 
and who have afflicted their souls, and at the same time 
have thought continually about themselves that they would 
be esteemed and honored above others, and at length 
after death be accounted saints, in the other life are not in 
heaven, because they have done such things for the sake of 
themselves. And since they have defiled divine truths by 
the love of self in which they have immersed them, some 
of them are so insane as to think themselves gods. There- 
fore they are in hell among those like themselves. Some 
are cunning and deceitful, and are in the hells of the 
deceitful ; these are they who have performed such pious 
acts outwardly with art and cunning, whereby they have 
induced the common people to believe that a divine 
sanctity was in them. Of this character are many of 
the Roman Catholic saints, with some of whom also I 
have been permitted to converse ; and their life was then 
faithfully described to me, such as it had been in the 
world and such as it was afterward. 

"These statements are made in order that it maybe 
known that the life which leads to heaven is not a life of 
retirement from the world, but of action in the world ; 
and that a life of piety without a life of charity — which 
can only be acquired in the world — does not lead to 



THE NATURE OF HELL. 1 47 

heaven, but that a life of charity does ; and this consists in 
acting sincerely and justly in every occupation, in every 
transaction, and in every work, from an interior, and 
thus from a heavenly origin ; and such origin is inherent 
in such a life when a man acts sincerely and justly, be- 
cause it is according to the divine laws. Such a life is not 
difficult. But a life of piety separate from a life of char- 
ity is difficult ; yet this life leads away from heaven as 
much as it is believed to lead to it." — Ibid. 528-535. 



THE NATURE OF HELL, 

There has been, you know, much controversy among 
Christians in regard to the nature of hell and its torments. 
Understanding the Bible literally, as it was generally un- 
derstood a hundred years ago, we must conclude that hell 
is a place rather than a stale of the heart ; — a lake of 
burning brimstone. And such was the generally accepted 
belief at the time Swedenborg wrote. 

But very few nowadays believe in a hell of literal fire 
and brimstone. You no longer hear the old and once 
popular doctrine on this subject, proclaimed from the 
pulpit in any intelligent community. All are beginning 
to admit that the Scripture representations of the lot of 
the wicked after death are not to be literally interpreted ; 
— that the kingdom of hell as well as of heaven is within 
the soul. Although few religious teachers pretend to tell 
us precisely what hell is, nearly all admit that the Ian- 



I48 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

guage of Scripture when treating of this subject, is to be 
regarded as figurative; and that God never created any 
such place as hell* but that this is simply a perverse and 
disordered state of the soul into which men bring them- 
selves through a persistent disregard of the divine pre- 
cepts and the unrestrained indulgence of their selfish 
loves. You yourself, in a sermon on "Future Punish- 
ment/ ' published a year ago or more, said: "The 
educated Christian mind of all lands, for the last hun- 
dred years, has been changing on this subject' ' — u e. 
the nature of punishment in the Hereafter. 

Now what is Swedenborg's testimony? Writing more 
than a hundred years ago, he said : 

"I have been told from heaven, and it has been proved 
to me by much experience likewise, that these two loves 
— namely, self-love and the love of the world — rule in 
the hells, and likewise make the hells ; and that love to 
the Lord and love toward the neighbor rule in the 
heavens, and likewise make the heavens; also that the 
two former loves which are the loves of hell, and the two 
latter which are the loves of heaven, are diametrically 
opposite to each other. 

"It is unknown in the world that self-love, in itself 
considered, is the love which rules in hell and makes hell 
with man. This being the case, I will first describe what 
self-love is, and then show that all evils and the falsities 
thence derived, spring from that love as from their foun- 
tain. 



THE NATURE OF HELL. 1 49 

" Self-love consists in a man wishing well to himself 
alone, and not to others except for the sake of himself, 
— not even to the church, to his country, or to any hu- 
man society ; also in doing good to them solely for the 
sake of his own reputation, honor and glory ; for unless 
he sees these in the uses which he performs for them, he 
says in his heart, Of what use is it ? Why should I do 
this ? What advantage will it be to me ? And so he 
leaves the use undone. Whence it is evident that he who 
is in self-love, neither loves the church, nor his country, 
nor society, nor any use, but himself alone. He desires 
that the church, his country, human society and his fel- 
low-citizens should serve him, and not that he may serve 
them ; for he places himself above them, and them below 
himself, So far, therefore, as any one is in self-love, he 
removes himself from heaven, because from heavenly 
love. 

' ' Still further : so far as any one is in heavenly love, 
— which consists in loving uses and good works, and in 
being affected with delight of heart in the performance 
of them for the sake of the church, his country, human 
society, and a fellow-citizen, — he is led by the Lord; 
because that is the love in which He is, and which is 
from Himself. But so far as any one is in self-love, 
which consists in performing uses and good works for the 
sake of himself, he is led by himself; and in proportion 
as any one is led by himself, he is not led by the Lord : 
whence also it follows, that so far as any one loves him- 
13* 



150 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

self, he removes himself from the Divine, thus also from 
heaven. 

"Self-love is of such a nature, too, that so far as the 
reins are given it, — that is, so far as external bonds are 
removed, which consist in fear of the law and its penal- 
ties, and of the loss of reputation, honor, gain, employ- 
ment and life, — it rushes on in its mad career, until at 
last it not only desires to rule over the whole terrestrial 
globe, but also over the whole heaven, and over the 
Divine Himself. It knows no limit or bounds. This 
propensity lurks within every one who is in self-love, 
although it does not appear before the world, where the 
above-mentioned bonds restrain it. 

"Picture to yourself a society of such persons, all of 
whom love themselves alone, and love others only so far 
as they make one with themselves ; and you will see that 
their love for each other is not unlike that of robbers, 
who, so far, as their associates act conjointly with them, 
embrace and call them friends ; but so far as they do not 
act conjointly with them, and reject their domination, 
rush upon and cruelly slay them. If their interiors be 
examined, it will be found that they are full of bitter 
enmity toward each other, and that in heart they laugh at 
all justice and sincerity, and likewise at the Divine whom 
they reject as of no account. This may be still further 
manifest from the societies of such in the hells." — Ibid. 
554-5^0. 

That low or natural condition of the soul, then, in 



THE FIRE OF HELL. 1 5 I 

which the love of self reigns supreme, is what is meant 
by hell. To be in this state, or under the influence of 
this love, is to be in hell. And to be in hell is to have 
hell in the soul. I am not aware that this view of the 
essential nature of hell was ever announced until revealed 
through Swedenborg. 

THE FIRE OF HELL. 

The Bible, moreover, speaks of "the fire of hell/ ' and 
of the wicked being tormented therein. What does this 
mean ? That their fleshly bodies will be cast into material 
fire, and burn there forever without having their organiza- 
tion or consciousness destroyed ? Or does it mean a differ- 
ent kind of fire ? — a fire belonging to the spiritual realm ? 
— a fire that may forever burn within the soul without con- 
suming it ? Swedenborg answers the question thus : 

"What is meant by the everlasting fire mentioned in 
the Word as the portion of those who are in hell, has 
hitherto been known to scarcely any one. The reason is, 
that people have thought materially concerning those 
things which are in the Word, not being acquainted with 
its spiritual sense. Wherefore by fire, some have under- 
stood material fire ; some, torment in general ; some, re- 
morse of conscience ; and some have supposed that the 
expression is used merely to excite terror, and thus deter 
men from crimes. But whoever is acquainted with the 
spiritual sense of the Word, may know what everlasting 
fire is. 



152 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

" There are two origins of heat : one from the Sun of 
heaven, which is the Lord, and the other from the sun of 
the world. The heat which is from the sun of heaven, or 
the Lord, is spiritual heat, which in its essence is love ; 
but the heat from the sun of the world is natural heat, 
which in its essence is not love, but serves spiritual heat 
or love for a receptacle. 

"Spiritual heat with man is the heat of his life, because 
in its essence it is love. This heat is what is meant by- 
fire in the Word. Love to the Lord and neighborly love 
is meant by heavenly fire ; and self-love and the love of 
the world, by infernal fire. 

"Infernal fire or love exists from the same origin as 
heavenly fire or love, namely, from the Sun of heaven, or 
the Lord. But it is made infernal by those who receive 
it. For all influx from the spiritual world varies accord- 
ing to its reception, or according to the forms into which 
it flows, just as the heat and light of the sun of the world 
are modified by their recipient subjects. The heat from 
this sun, flowing into shrubberies and beds of flowers, pro- 
duces vegetation, and likewise draws forth pleasant and 
delicious odors ; but the same heat, flowing into excre- 
mentitious and cadaverous substances, produces putrefac- . 
tion, and draws forth noisome and disgusting stenches. 
So the light from the same sun produces, in one object, 
beautiful and pleasing colors ; in another, ugly and dis- 
agreeable ones. The case is similar in regard to heat and 
light from the Sun of heaven, which is Divine Love. 



THE FIRE OF HELL. 153 

" The* evils originating in the loves of self and the 
world [when they rule supreme], are contempt of others, 
enmity and hostility against those who do not favor them, 
envy, hatred and revenge, and, as a consequence of these, 
savageness and cruelty. And in regard to the Divine, 
they consist in the denial, and thence in the contempt, 
mocking and reviling of the holy things belonging to the 
church; and after death, when man becomes a spirit, 
these evils are turned into anger and hatred against these 
holy things. And because these evils continually breathe 
the destruction and murder of those whom they regard as 
enemies, and against whom they burn with hatred and re- 
venge, therefore it is the delight of their life to wish to 
destroy and kill ; and when they are unable to do this, 
they still delight in the wish to do them mischief and 
harm, and vent their rage against them. These are the 
things which are meant by fire in the Word, where the 
wicked and the hells are treated of. 

"The delight of doing injury is inherent in enmity, 
envy, hatred and revenge, which are the evils springing 
from the love of self, as was said above. All the hells are 
societies of this description. Therefore every one there 
cherishes hatred. in his heart toward every other one ; and 
from hatred breaks out into savage cruelties toward him, 
so far as he obtains the mastery. These cruelties, and 
the torment which they produce, are also understood by 
infernal fire; for they are the effects of infernal lusts.' 7 
Ibid. 566-573. 



154 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 



APPEARANCE OF THE DEVILS. 

» 
The face is, to some extent, the index of the mind even 

in this world. The thoughts and emotions of the soul 

are more or less legibly imprinted thereon. But in the 

spiritual world the power of thought and feeling is so 

supreme, that they mould the face of every one into 

exact correspondence with themselves. Therefore the 

angels are inconceivably beautiful, because nothing but 

the most exalted beauty could fitly image the nobleness 

and exaltation of 9 their thoughts or the sweetness and 

purity of their love. 

If, then, this law of correspondence is so supreme and 
universal in* the other world, — if there the form is so 
plastic to the spirit, that the outer is the exact image and 
correspondent of the inner man, — what should we expect 
would be the personal appearance of infernal spirits ? If 
they are the opposite of the angels in character, their 
faces should reveal this fact. Accordingly, Swedenborg 
says : 

" All the spirits in hell, when inspected in any degree 
of heavenly light, appear in the form of their own evil ; 
for every one there is the effigy of his own evil, because 
with every one the interiors and exteriors act in unity, — 
the interiors exhibiting themselves visibly in the ex- 
teriors, which are the face, the body, the speech- and the 
gestures. Thus their quality is known as soon as they are 



THE LORD DOES NOT CAST INTO HELL. 155 

seen. In general their faces are hideous, and void of 
life, like corpses; in some cases they are black; in others, 
fiery like little torches ; in others, disfigured by pimples, 
warts and ulcers. Their bodies also are monstrous ; and 
their speech is like the speech of anger, hatred or re- 
venge, — for every one speaks from his own falsity, and 
in a tone corresponding to his own evil. In a word, they 
are all of them images, each one of his own hell. ,, 

And mark, here, the unspeakable mercy of the Lord, 
in preventing the devils from appearing to themselves or 
to each other as they really are, and as they actually 
appear when seen in the light of heaven. For the seer 
adds : 

1 ' It is, however, to be observed that such is the appear- 
ance of infernal spirits when seen in the light of heaven. 
But among themselves they appear like men. This is of 
the Lord's mercy, that they may not appear as loathsome 
to each other as "they do to the angels. But this appear- 
ance is a fallacy; for as soon as a ray of light from 
heaven is let in, their human forms are turned into mon- 
strous ones, such as they are in reality as described 
above ; for in the light of heaven everything appears as it 
really is." — Ibid. 553. 



THE LORD DOES NOT CAST INTO HELL. 

How can he ? — seeing that He is Love itself. Love 
never desires to punish, but always to save and bless. A 



156 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE, 

wise and loving father never wishes his child to suffer. 
He never chastises him but with a view to the child's own 
good. Nor does he ever turn away from him, however 
wayward and disobedient the child may be, nor cease 
his efforts to restrain him from evil and lead him to 
good. Much less, then, could He who is Love itself, 
turn away from his erring children, or cease to pursue 
them with tenderest pity and ceaseless efforts to do them 
good. Such, clearly, is the dictate of enlightened 
reason. And now let us hear the testimony of Sweden- 
borg: 

" The opinion has prevailed with some, that God turns 
his face away from man, rejects him and casts him into 
hell, and that He is angry with him on account of 
sin ; and it is still further supposed by some that God 
punishes man, and brings evil upon him. In this opinion 
they confirm themselves from the literal sense of the 
Word, where such things are declared, not being aware 
that the spiritual sense of the Word, which explains that 
of the letter, is altogether different ; and that hence the 
genuine doctrine of the church, which is according to 
the spiritual sense of the Word, teaches otherwise ; 
namely, that God never turns His face away from man, 
never rejects him, never casts any one into hell, and is 
never angry. 

" Every one, also, whose mind is in a state of illustra- 
tion when he reads the Word, perceives this from the 
single consideration that God is good itself, love itself, 



THE LORD DOES NOT CAST INTO HELL. 1 57 

and mercy itself; and that good itself cannot do evil to 
any one \ nor can love itself and mercy itself cast man 
away from them, because it is contrary to their very 
essence, thus contrary to the Divine itself. Therefore 
they who think from an enlightened understanding when 
they read the Word, clearly perceive that God never 
turns Himself away from man ; and because He never 
turns Himself away from him, that He deals with him 
from good, love and mercy; in other words, that He 
wills his good, that He loves him and is merciful to him. 
Hence also they see that the literal sense of the Word 
which teaches such things, conceals within itself a spirit- 
ual sense, according to which those expressions are to be 
explained, which, in the sense of the letter, are spoken in 
accommodation to the apprehension of man, and accord- 
ing to his first and general ideas. 

" Man is the cause of his own evil, and not the Lord. 
Evil with man is hell with him ; for whether we speak of 
evil or of hell, it is the same thing. Now since man is 
the cause of his own evil, therefore also he leads himself 
into hell, and not the Lord. And so far is the Lord from 
leading man into hell, that he delivers him from hell as 
far as a man does not will and love to abide in his own 
evil. All of man's will and love remains with him after 
death. He who wills and loves evil in the world, wills 
and loves the same evil in the other life ; and then he no 
longer suffers himself to be withdrawn from it. 

"From what has been said, it may be seen that the 
14 



158 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

Lord casts no one down to hell, but that every one casts 
himself down, not only while he lives in the world, but 
also after death when he comes among spirits. 

" The Lord, from his divine essence, — which is good, 
love and mercy, — cannot deal in the same manner with 
every man, because evils and the falsities thence derived 
not only resist and blunt, but also reject his divine influx. 
Evils and the falsities thence derived are like black 
clouds which interpose themselves between the sun and 
man's eye, and take away the sunshine and serenity of 
the day. The sun, however, still continues in the per- 
petual effort to dissipate the obstructing clouds ; for it is 
behind them and operating toward their dispersion; and 
in the meantime, also, transmits something of shady light 
to the eye through various indirect passages. It is the 
same in the spiritual world. There, the sun is the Lord 
and the divine love ; and the light is the divine truth ; 
the black clouds there, are falsities derived from evil ; 
and the eye is the understanding. In proportion as any 
one in that world is in falsities derived from evil, he is 
encompassed by such a cloud, which is black and dense 
according to the degrees of his evil. From this compari- 
son it may be seen that the Lord is constantly present 
with every one, but that He is received differently." — ■ 
Ibid. 5 43-5 5 °- 



MAN'S BOOK OF LIFE. 1 59 



MAN'S BOOK OF LIFE. 



Besides our outer and visible record, seen and read of 
men on earth, there is an inner and invisible record 
which every soul makes for itself, and which only the all- 
seeing Eye can accurately read. Every man has a book 
of life, which he himself has written. Even now is each 
one engaged in writing that book — writing it every day 
and every hour ; in living and inextinguishable char- 
acters. 

This truth was disclosed, pictorially, to the seer of Pat- 
mos when he was "in the spirit," and saw, as he tells us, 
"the dead, small and great, stand before God;" and 
when, too, "the books were opened; and the dead were 
judged out of those things which were written in the 
books, according to their works." 

Where and what is this book of life ? and how is this 
record kept ? Can it be elsewhere than in the soul itself? 
Or can it be aught else than the soul's own acts regis- 
tered on the living and imperishable tablet of the heart? 
For what else but deeds and motives mould the character 
of our inner man? And will not every one, in the day 
of final adjudication, be judged according to his charac- 
ter? — not as it appears in the eyes of men, but as it 
stands revealed to God and the angels ? 

The following is Swedenborg's answer to these ques- 
tions. See if it does not accord with the deepest philos- 
ophy and the highest reason. 



l6o LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. . 

"That man takes all his memory with him when he 
leaves the natural world, has been proved by many things 
which I have seen and heard ; some of which I will re- 
late in order. 

" There were those who denied the crimes and enor- 
mities which they had committed in the world. There- 
fore, lest they should be believed innocent, all their 
deeds were discovered and recounted in order from their 
own memory, from their earliest age to the latest. 

" There were some who had deceived others by wicked 
arts, and had stolen. Their tricks and thefts were enu- 
merated in order, although many of them were known to 
scarcely any one in the world but themselves. They also 
acknowledged them, because they were made manifest as 
in the light, together with every thought, intention, delight 
and fear, which passed through their minds at the time. 

" There were others who had accepted bribes and 
made gain of judgment. These in like manner were 
explored from their memory; and from, it were recounted 
all their official misdeeds from first to last. Every par- 
ticular was recalled — the amount and nature of each 
bribe, the time when it was offered, their state of mind 
and intention in accepting it/Vere all brought to their 
recollection at the same time, and visibly exhibited. 
And the number of their offences amounted to many 
hundreds. This was done in several instances. 

" There was one who had made light of the evil of 
backbiting. I heard his backbitings and defamations 



MAN'S BOOK OF LIFE. l6l 

recounted in order, and in the very words he had used. 
The persons whom he had defamed and those to whom 
he had defamed them were also made known. All these 
things were produced, and at the same time exhibited to 
the life ; and yet every particular had been studiously con- 
cealed by him when he lived in the world. Another spirit 
who had deprived a relation of his inheritance by a fraud- 
ulent pretext was convicted and judged in the same way. 

" In a word, all evils, villanies, robberies, artifices and 
deceits, are made manifest to every evil spirit, and are 
drawn forth from his own memory, and his guilt is estab- 
lished beyond a doubt. Nor is there any room for 
denial, because all the circumstances appear together. 

"It is evident from these examples that a man carries 
all his memory with him into the other world ; and that 
there is nothing, however concealed here, which is not 
made manifest hereafter in the presence of many ; agree- 
ably to the Lord's words: 'For there is nothing covered 
that shall not be revealed, neither hid that shall not be 
known. Therefore, whatsoever ye have spoken in dark- 
ness, shall be heard in the light ; and that which ye have 
spoken in the ear in closets, shall be proclaimed upon 
the housetops.* — Luke xii. 2, 3. 

"It may also be seen from the foregoing remarks, 
what is meant by the book of man's life spoken of in the 
Word, namely this : That all things — those he has done 
as well as those he has thought — are inscribed on the 
whole man, and appear as if read in a book when they 
14*- L 



l62 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

are called forth from his memory, and as if seen in effigy 
when the spirit is viewed in the light of heaven. 

"To the foregoing I will add a memorable circum- 
stance concerning the permanence of memory after death, 
whereby I was confirmed in the truth that not only things 
in general, but also the most minute particulars which 
enter the memory, remain, and are never obliterated. 

"I saw some books with writings in them, just like 
those in the world ; and I was informed that they were 
taken from the memory of their authors, and that not 
one word contained in the book written by the same per- 
son when in the world, was wanting therein ; and that 
thus the most minute circumstances may be called forth 
from the memory of another, even those which the man 
himself had forgotten in the world. The reason was also 
disclosed to me, which was : That man has an external 
and an internal memory — an external memory belonging 
to his natural man, and an internal memory belonging 
to his spiritual man; and that everything which he has 
thought, willed, spoken, done, also which he has heard 
and seen, is inscribed on his internal and spiritual mem- 
ory; and that whatever is recorded thereon, is never 
erased, since it is inscribed at the same time on the spirit 
itself, and on the members of its. body; and thus that the 
spirit is formed according to the thoughts and acts of 
the will. 

"I am aware that these things will appear like para- 
doxes, and will scarcely be believed ; but still they are 



MAN'S BOOK OF LIFE. 1 63 

true. Let no man imagine, therefore, that anything 
which he has thought within himself, and which he has 
done in secret, remains hidden after death; but let him 
be assured that every thought and deed is then laid open 
as in the clear light of day." — Ibid. 462, 463. 

But already this Letter has exceeded the limits within 
which I had hoped to confine myself. I think it occupies 
more pages than both of Paul's Epistles to the Corin- 
thians. And if you give to the extracts herein copied, that 
careful consideration which I hope you will, and which I 
think they deserve, I believe you will see and frankly 
acknowledge that, judged by the insight they evince and 
the spirit they breathe and the wisdom they contain, 
they will not suffer by comparison with anything which 
the great apostle to the Gentiles ever wrote. 

I might easily have increased the extracts to five times 
their present number and length ; and you would have 
found the same reasonableness, consistency, charity, and 
good common-sense pervading them all, that you find in 
those here given. And if such characteristics are to be 
accepted as among the signs of "mental aberration" or 
"singular hallucination," what sort of evidence, then, 
would be required to adequately authenticate a genuine 
revelation of the life beyond the grave ? 

I have yet a few more words to say on this subject ; 
but must reserve them for future communications. Mean- 
while I remain, as ever, 

Your Friend and Brother, B. F. Barrett. 



V. 

NEED AND TENDENCY OF HIS DISCLOSURES. 

My Dear Brother: — In my last letter it was my 
purpose to vindicate the claim of Swedenborg to an 
extraordinary divine mission. I aimed to show that he 
was actually intromitted into the spiritual world, as he 
declares ; and that he has, by a special divine authoriza- 
tion, made a truthful revelation of the grand realities of 
that world. And the only satisfactory way of doing this, 
seemed to be the one I adopted — to exhibit the character 
of the revelation itself by quoting liberally from various 
parts of the seer's report. This imposed on me the 
necessity of extending that letter to an unusual length. 
For while a man, laboring under a strange hallucination, 
might perhaps write coherently and sensibly on one or 
two points, it is, I submit, utterly inconceivable that he 
could, on scores of subjects, preserve the consistency and 
coherence, and exhibit the good solid sense that we find 
in the passages quoted in my last letter. Do those extracts 
read like the ravings of a monomaniac, or the speculations 
of one who delighted in the marvelous, or who wrote 
under a highly excited state of the imagination ? On the 
contrary, are they not all pervaded b^ the rarest calmness, 

164 



TENDENCY OF HIS DISCLOSURES. l6$ 

simplicity, and self-possession? — qualities which do not 
belong to highly imaginative writers, much less to those 
afflicted with mental hallucination. 

Then, please to bear in mind, that while the seer, in 
many of the passages cited — such as those on the nature 
of the resurrection, the nature of heaven and hell, the 
state of children after death, the employments of heaven, 
the condition of the Gentiles in the Hereafter, &c. — 
has spoken according to the most advanced Christian 
thought of to-day, the views put forth are entirely con- 
trary to the prevailing beliefs of Christendom at the time 
he wrote. Now, if you will examine those extracts in the 
light of Scripture, reason, observation, history, experience, 
well-authenticated facts, the principles of sound philos- 
ophy, the accepted laws of the human mind — all known 
truth, indeed — you will find their allegations sustained 
by the concurrent testimony of this cloud of witnesses. 

Remember, too, that, during the whole period in which 
he claimed to have open intercourse with the spiritual 
world, he was teaching concerning what are commonly 
regarded as the fundamentals of the Christian religion, — 
the Lord, the Incarnation, Atonement, Regeneration, 
Faith, Charity, Life, the nature and way of salvation, 
etc., — doctrines widely different from those commonly 
taught and accepted at that day, but in substantial if not 
entire agreement with the views of the most advanced 
thinkers of our own times, yourself among the number. 
No doubt you would be surprised to learn how much 



1 66 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

more closely your views upon all the essential doctrines 
of our religion agree with the teachings of Swedenborg, 
than with the popular belief of Christians a hundred 
years ago, or even with the written creed of the Congre- 
gational churches of to-day. This, certainly, would 
seem to be strong evidence that the prevailing belief of 
the " innocent delusion," " self-deception/ ' or "mental 
hallucination/' in his case, is by no means well founded. 
The genuine prophets of God may see and teach truths 
far in advance of the age in which they live ; but enthu- 
siasts, dreamers, fanatics, monomaniacs — I submit that 
no such work is ever given them to do. 

Then look at the practical tendency of these dis- 
closures. Consider what must be their legitimate fruits; 
how they ought to affect the lives and influence the con- 
duct of those who believe them. And I know of no 
surer test of truth than this : the legitimate tendency, or 
effect upon character, of what is taught. If this be good, 
the teaching cannot be false ; and if it be bad, the teach- 
ing cannot be true. For "a good tree cannot bring 
forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth 
good fruit/' saith the Lord. Nor can false teaching on 
any subject tend to purify the motives, exalt the aims, en- 
large the sympathies or ennoble the life. 

Now apply this test to Swedenborg's alleged dis- 
closures of the future life. Take up any or every state- 
ment in the extracts given in my last letter, and consider 
its tendency — its legitimate influence upon the character 



TENDENCY OF ffIS DISCLOSURES. 1 67 

of the believer. What could be more stimulating to all 
the nobler elements of our nature, than his delineation of 
the character of the angels, and his account of the 
nature, life and delights of heaven ! By showing us how 
the angels live — how they think and feel and act — he 
shows us how we must endeavor to live if we would have 
the angel life unfolded in ourselves. In heaven, he says, 
no one thinks of living or working for himself alone, 
but all for the welfare and happiness of others \ and that 
the more they seek each other's good, the more do they 
experience of heavenly delight. Suppose this were the 
deep conviction of all on earth, would not the tendency 
of such belief be most beneficent ? He tells us that the 
delights of heaven spring from the faithful discharge of 
the duties of one's vocation, from the genuine love of 
being useful ; and that happiness cannot be given there, 
apart from the disinterested love and performance of uses. 
Is not this a wholesome doctrine for men on earth to be- 
lieve ? Its obvious tendency is to lead every believer to 
seek some useful vocation, and endeavor to find his hap- 
piness in the patient and faithful performance of its duties. 
He tells us that every one takes his own character with 
him into the other world ; and that there, by an unfail- 
ing law, he gravitates toward those whose ruling love is 
nearest like his own. Let this be believed, and what an 
inducement have we, while on earth, to deny and over- 
come within us the selfish loves of hell, and develop the 
purer loves of heaven ! He tells us where and what is our 



1 68 LETTERS ON THE* FUTURE LIFE. 

book of life, and when and how it is written; — that 
daily and hourly is every one writing his own book on 
the living tablet of the soul. And is not the obvious 
tendency of his teaching on this subject, to make the be- 
liever most watchful over his thoughts, feelings, motives, 
and actions ? — since these are all registered with mathe- 
matical exactness on leaves more durable than brass. 

And so of all the great seer's disclosures concerning 
the Hereafter. Their obvious tendency is, to chasten and 
subdue the* cravings of our lower nature, and to quicken 
all the nobler aspirations ; to make the believer more 
humble, sincere, charitable, patient, self-forgetting, self- 
denying, self-sacrificing, — more like the heavenly Father 
himself in the spirit and temper of his mind, and in his 
unswerving devotion to the welfare of humanity. In 
short, their tendency is to make of earth a heaven. 
What higher evidence, then, could we ask, — what 
higher could we have, — that these disclosures were di- 
vinely authorized, and are therefore true ? 

Then the Bible, I think, clearly justifies the expectation 
of some such revelation as that which Swedenborg claims 
to have been authorized to make. It foretells the crea- 
tion of a new heaven and a new earth ; and the descent, 
from God out of heaven, of a magnificent city "of pure 
gold," with foundations "garnished with all manner of 
precious stones/ ' It tells us that the Lord at his advent 
in the flesh, had many things to say which his disciples 
were not then able to bear; and it foretells another 



TENDENCY OF ffIS DISCLOSURES. 1 69 

advent different from the first, — an advent "upon the 
clouds of heaven, with power and great glory." Who 
knows but all this points to the advent; or descent "from 
God out of heaven," of new and higher truth than the 
world has hitherto known? — to the dawn of a new and 
more glorious Era for humanity ? — to the opening and 
revealing of new truth concerning the Lord, his Word, 
and the condition of things in the great Hereafter? Is 
it not plain, indeed, to the most superficial observer, that 
a New Age has already commenced ? And may not the 
light which is everywhere breaking through the clouds of 
ignorance, the mists of prejudice, and the accumulations 
of error, and beginning to gild with its splendors the 
world's horizon, be but the first beams of Him at his 
second coming who is "the Light of the world" ? May 
it not be — this coming through the clouds of the letter, 
of these higher, grander and more searching truths from 
out the spirit of the Word and from the realm of spirits, 
— the fulfilment of that predicted and long expected 
coming in the clouds, " with power and great glory " ? 

And does not reason, as well as the past history and 
present condition of the church, justify the same expecta- 
tion ? Go, ask your brethren in the ministry concerning 
the Hereafter. r Ask them in what condition we shall find 
ourselves, when we shall have "shuffled off this mortal 
coil." Ask them if we shall still be in the human form, 
having power to think, reason, remember, converse and 
love. Ask them if the spirits of the dear departed still 
15 



I70 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

think of us and love us " on the shining shore/ ' Ask 
whether, when we leave these mortal bodies, we shall 
join them in conscious visible association ; be recognized 
and greeted by them, and recognize and greet them in 
return. Ask whether the distinction of sex is continued 
beyond the grave \ whether spirits associate together like 
men and women, and what the law that determines their 
social arrangements. Ask what is the nature of heaven 
and hell, and what are the delights of good and of evil 
spirits. Ask if there be employments beyond the tomb, 
and what their nature and rewards. Ask Christian min- 
isters these and a hundred similar questions, and nine- 
teen-twentieths of them will give substantially the very 
answer you have given: "We do not know. Nothing 
has been revealed concerning the future life. We have 
our opinion on these subjects ; but we do not, in our 
confessed ignorance, presume to teach others about 
them." 

And will this be so always ? Will the ministers of 
Christ, think you, never have aught but crude conjecture 
wherewith to answer inquiries upon themes of such deep 
interest? You believe there is a spiritual world. Is it 
reasonable, then, to suppose that its arcana will never be 
revealed ? Does such presumption accord with what we 
know of the goodness of God, the wants of the soul, or 
the progress of mankind in knowledge upon all other 
subjects? For the last hundred years the human mind 
has made prodigious advances in knowledge of the 



TENDENCY OF HIS DISCLOSURES. ' 171 

physical sciences, and of the means of satisfying the 
wants and increasing the comforts of our natural life. 
The secrets of universal nature have been rapidly un- 
folding, and new discoveries still succeed each other 
almost with the rapidity of thought. And we can fix no 
limit to this progress in knowledge of the material uni- 
verse. There is no limit. To suppose one, were to sup- 
pose that the Infinite may be exhausted ; and to deny 
the indefinite enlargement or receptivity of the human 
mind. 

Now, since the all-wise and loving Father is perpetually 
disclosing the secrets of nature for the benefit of his chil- 
dren, and since the liveliest imagination can set no bounds 
to the increase of physical knowledge, is it reasonable to 
suppose that all knowledge of the spiritual world will be 
forever denied to mortals ? Will God vouchsafe to his 
rational creatures an unimaginable amount of truth con- 
cerning this world of matter, and keep the nobler world 
of spirit, which is to be our eternal dwelling-place, for- 
ever shrouded in darkness ? 

I submit, then, that whether we consult reason or reve- 
lation, we are justified in expecting, sooner or later, some 
such disclosures concerning the spiritual world as Swe- 
denborg claims to have made. 

You think that a revelation concerning the Hereafter 
could serve no good purpose, because if really made, it 
would not be understood by us mortals. I think you will 
change your opinion on this point when you read the 



172 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

extracts in my last letter. Others think there is no need 
of such a revelation; that it could only feed one's love 
of the marvelous, or gratify a morbid curiosity, which 
had better not be gratified. But is this really so ? 

Suppose you were a young man, intending by-and-by 
to emigrate to some foreign country, there to reside for 
the remainder of your life. Would you not desire some 
information about that country? Would you not wish to 
know something of its institutions and laws, the manners 
and customs of its people, their language and literature, 
their character and habits, their occupations and modes 
of life? And might not such knowledge be turned to 
profitable account in preparing yourself for the honorable 
discharge of your duties as a citizen of that country? 
And suppose some distinguished traveller had already 
been there, and had published a full account of what he 
heard and saw ; would you think the time employed in 
reading his book, idly or unprofitably spent? 

Now, is not the desire for some positive information 
concerning that country whither we are all going — 
going, we know not how soon — going, never to return — 
equally natural and equally legitimate ? And is there no 
other use of such information than the gratification of a 
morbid curiosity ? May it not stimulate and assist us to 
prepare ourselves more thoroughly for the duties and 
enjoyments of our future home ? May not a faithful pic- 
ture of life in heaven and life in hell, kindle in our 
hearts a deeper longing for the one and a more intense 



TENDENC Y OF HIS DISCL OSURES. 1 7 3 

loathing of the other? If there be a connection between 
the present life and the life to come, may not the knowl- 
edge of how our life in the Hereafter is connected with 
our life here, be of high practical moment? 

No need of a revelation concerning the future life? — 
either now, or at the time when Swedenborg wrote? 
Read the history of the Christian Church during his life- 
time. Infidelity had well-nigh palsied her right arm ; 
and a cold, cheerless, withering materialism was pressing 
like an incubus upon her vitals. Questions had been 
asked about the future life, which the wisest of the clergy 
were unable to answer. Many had come to deny, and 
still more to doubt, even the immortality of the soul. 
To arrest this infidel tendency, there w T as needed just such 
a disclosure of the realities of the other world as that 
made through Swedenborg ; and accompanied, too, with 
precisely that rational kind of evidence, which alone 
could satisfy the demands of a reasoning and inquisi- 
tive age. 

A revelation concerning the Hereafter of no use, even 
if true ? Go ask that mother as she bends over the pulse- 
less body of her beloved child, and impresses upon its 
marble brow the last fond tribute of a mother's love. 
Ask her if she could find no solace in the assured convic- 
tion that her darling is in the loving embrace of angels — 
more truly alive, and happier far, than ever before. 

Or, ask that widowed wife, whose blood-shot eyes and 
pallid cheek bespeak an agony too deep for words. Ask 

*5* 



174 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

her — while the coffin-lid is closing over the lifeless 
form of him to whom her affections clung with all the 
devotion of a woman's love — whether it would not 
lighten the burden of her sorrow to know something 
definite and positive about that realm into which her 
beloved has just been ushered. Ask whether it would 
not gladden her aching heart to know that he is more 
alive now than ever before ; that his spirit is by her side, 
tenderly watching over her, ready to soothe her in her 
sorrows, and to encourage and strengthen her in every 
good word and work ; — ready, perchance, when her 
earthly pilgrimage is ended, to clasp her again in love's 
embrace. 

Or, ask that youth or maiden who stands, overwhelmed 
with anguish, by the bedside of a dying father, mother, 
sister, or brother ; or that thronging crowd of mourn- 
ers who weep the departure of the loved and good, and 
whose dark apparel is but a faint emblem of the gloom 
funeral which shrouds to them the spirit-land ; — ask 
them if a truthful revelation of the grand realities of the 
other world would bring no comfort to their riven hearts. 
Ask if they would find no solace in the assured conviction 
that their loved ones are still alive and near and watch- 
ing over them for good — inspiring holy thoughts and 
good resolutions and noble endeavors — fuller than ever 
before of life, activity, health and joy. 

Or, ask the thousands who have experienced and 
therefore know the sustaining power, under sore bereave- 



TENDENC Y OF HIS DISCL OSURES. 1 7 5 

ment, of the revelation that has been made ; — who once 
looked on death with dread dismay, but are now able to 
contemplate it with a cheerful serenity, and sometimes 
even with a holy joy. Ask them, and they will testify to 
the use of this new revelation ; and they can speak from 
a living experience. They will tell you that not the 
wealth of kingdoms nor the honor of thrones can be 
compared in value with the priceless truths concerning 
the spiritual world, which they have found in the writings 
of Swedenborg. 

But lest I weary you by my prolixity, I will bring this 
letter abruptly to a close — reserving the remainder of 
what I wish to say, for another and concluding epistle, 
and subscribing myself, as I am, and hope ever to be, 
Truly your Friend and Brother, 

B. F. Barrett. 



VI. 

COLLATERAL TESTLMONY. 

My Dear Brother: —I have already laid before you 
some of the more direct evidence of Swedenborg's 
alleged and extraordinary intromission into the spiritual 
world, to wit : the intrinsic reasonableness, consistency, 
need and value of the disclosures he has made. If you 
examine this evidence with sufficient care and thorough- 
ness, you will, I doubt not, find it of a nature that cannot 
easily be overthrown or invalidated. You will see that 
the alleged revelation itself is the very best evidence of 
its truth. 

But there are some facts to which I have not yet 
alluded, which I think deserve your consideration, and 
which cannot fail to add strength to my argument ; facts 
which cannot be denied, and which seem to me of great 
force and significance. Such, for example, as these : 

That every year witnesses a more and more liberal in- 
fusion of the principles, philosophy and doctrines of 
Swedenborg, and the spirit of his teachings, into the best 
literature of our times. As one of the striking cases in 
illustration of this remark, I might mention the works of 

176 



COLLATERAL TESTIMONY. 1 77 

George McDonald, which are all aglow with the spirit 
and philosophy of Swedenborg's teachings. Further : 

That the changes in theological opinion which have 
been taking place for the last half century, and are still in 
progress (and you, I doubt not, will concede that impor- 
tant changes have occurred among the more advanced 
thinkers in nearly all the churches), have been and con- 
tinue to be in a direct line toward the teachings of the 
Swedish seer ; and the most popular preachers and writers 
on theology of to-day, are the men who have studied 
Swedenborg the closest, and whose teachings are most im- 
bued with his doctrines and philosophy. To cite a single 
case by way of illustration, — that of Rev. E. H. Sears, 
author of those precious works, "Regeneration," "The 
Foregleams of Immortality, " and "The Heart of Christ,' ' 
— works which Christians of every name concede to be 
among the most luminous and valuable contributions to 
theological literature ever made by an American writer. 
Of the latest and last-mentioned of these works, the Boston 
Congregationalist says : " It is instructive and suggestive 
in the highest range of Christian thought and feeling. ,, 
The Church and State says of it : " No book of recent 
American theology is likely to win more notice from 
thoughtful readers than this. ' ' The Light of Home says : 
"It is one of the most deeply interesting volumes of this 
generation." The New York Independent says : " i The 
Heart of Christ ' is destined, we believe, to exert a power- 
ful influence upon the opinions of thinking men in all 

M 



178 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

branches of the Church." The Liberal Christian says 
of it : " This is certainly one of the most interesting and 
valuable offerings to theological and devotional literature, 
which has been made in our country in this generation." 
The Boston Journal says : "It is long since there has ap- 
peared in theological literature a work of such power and 
significance as i The Heart of Christ. ' ' ' The Cincinnati 
Times and Chronicle says : " It is a very vital book, and 
merits the careful study of all religious readers." And 
other leading journals contain notices equally laudatory. 

Here, then, is a work extolled as few works ever were 
before, — alike by orthodox and heterodox, by the 
secular and religious press ; yet its theology and philoso- 
phy throughout are in entire agreement with the teach- 
ings of Swedenborg, — and with no other theological 
system- I doubt if there is a paragraph in the book to 
which the most ardent admirer of the great Swede, and 
devout believer in his divine illumination, would take the. 
least exception. And I may say the same of the other 
two charming works by the same author. Nor does Mr. 
Sears attempt to conceal his profound regard for Sweden- 
borg, or his belief in his superior illumination. Speaking 
of the sensuous method of interpreting the Apocalypse 
adopted by all other writers, he says : 

" Swedenborg is the only interpreter we have ever met 
with, who does not flounder in this interminable slough. 
He keeps consistently on the spiritual plane ; and- though 
we do not pretend to understand his entire exegesis, we 



COLLATERAL TESTIMONY. 1 79 

believe his method is the only rational one for interpret- 
ing a purely symbolical book \ and that in the work 
under consideration [the Apocalypse], it unfolds some of 
the profoundest truths that ever searched the nature of 
man." — The Heart of Christ, p. 97. 

Again, in the same work, he says : 

" The spiritual body evolved from the natural, does 
not put off at once all its natural appearances and adap- 
tations." And as a foot-note to this he adds : "Sweden- 
borg in his very rational pneumatology illustrates this at 
large, showing that the changes from an earthly to a 
heavenly condition through death, are not made by cross- 
ing over chasms, but by the life within unfolding in an 
orderly way and robing itself anew, so that the natural 
appearances just before death and just after may be 
similar." — p. 401. 

Again, in his " Foregleams of Immortality," referring 
to Swedenborg's " Divine Love and Wisdom," he says: 

" It contains, among other things, a dissertation on the 
' Doctrine of Degrees ' ; and under its peculiar termi- 
nology the reader does not at first get the pith of its 
philosophy. But when he does get it, he sees the amaz- 
ing sweep of the principle set forth, and its constructive 
power in theology \ and that by missing it every school 
of materialists has stuck fast to the earth, — Pantheism, 
babbling of sacred names that mean nothing, the Church, 
glooming among the sepulchres, and modern Spiritualism 
offering us a future world of sublimated matter ; and he 



180 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE 

sees, too, that without the key which this principle offers, 
they will never get out of that prison-house, but knock 
their heads eternally against the bars. ,, 

Not that Mr. Sears is a Swedenborgian in the popular 
or technical sense. I do not mean to convey any such 
idea; for it is not true. Besides, that would rather 
weaken than strengthen my argument. He is larger than 
any of the sects, — the Swedenborgian included ; and 
believes that good Christians are to be found in them all, 
— yes, and outside of them all. He believes with you (as 
you have expressed yourself in your admirable sermon 
on "The Power of Love/') that "the marrow of a true 
religion is love;" that "the true church is the one 
which has in it the divine art of producing love, and that 
continuously; " that "a man's salvation does not depend 
on his creed;" that "there is in love a logic that is 
mightier than interpretation; " that "whether a man be 
high-church or low-church, new-church or no-church ; 
whether he hold this creed or that creed or no creed, 
if he has this saving power of love in the soul, grace be 
upon him; " that "all those of every church and every 
faith, who love the Lord Jesus Christ and their fellow- 
men in sincerity, are of our fellowship — are Christ's, and 
are spreading Christ's kingdom." And you would find 
him ready to agree with you most cordially, I doubt not, 
when you say in that same sermon ; 

"And how glorious is the church of God now upon the 
earth ! Not that narrow, contending church which the 



COLLATERAL TESTIMONY. l8l 

eye can see ; not that church upon which you can put 
the arithmetic, and which you can measure ; not that 
church whose cathedrals and buildings you can behold — 
not that is the church of God \ but that larger church 
which is invisible. That is the only true church — a 
church wherein there is harmony — which is made up' of 
all good men [and women]. It is that church which is 
made up of the concurring hearts of those who love the 
Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and in truth." 

With equal cordiality, too, I believe Mr. Sears would 
assent to the following, which forms the concluding par- 
agraph of your excellent sermon on " The Church of the 
Future ' ' : 

" When men would discuss with you the Church of the 
Future, tell them that with definite organization it will 
have infinite diversity. It will not be so much a temple, 
as a city with endless variety of structure, with uses and 
ornaments expressed in a hundred ways; but that in 
spirit it will be one ; in creed one ; and that creed and 
spirit will be, Love to God and Love to Man ! ' ' 

And just here it may be worth your while to remember, 
that more than a hundred years in advance of both 
yourself and the author of "The Heart of Christ,' ' the 
seer of Stockholm wrote, that "love to the Lord and 
the neighbor constitutes the essence of heaven and the 
church.' ' And this in substance is repeated hundreds 
of times in his works. Passages like the following are 
among those of most frequent occurrence in his writings. 
16 



1 82 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

" This distinction of names [among churches] arises 
solely from doctrinals ; and would never have existed if 
the members of the church had made love to the Lord and 
charity toward the neighbor the essential points of faith. 
Doctrinals would then have been only varieties of opinion 
concerning the mysteries of faith, which they who are 
true Christians would leave for every one to receive ac- 
cording to his conscience ; while the language of their 
hearts would be, He is a true Christian w T ho lives as a 
Christian, that is, as the Lord teaches. Thus one church 
would be formed out of all these different ones, and all 
disagreements arising from mere doctrinals, would van- 
ish." — Arcana Ccelestia, 1799. 

" Let this truth be received as a principle, that love to 
the Lord and charity toward the neighbor are the essen- 
tials on which hangs all the Law, and concerning which 
all the Prophets speak, and that consequently they are 
the essentials of ail doctrine and of all worship, tnen all 
heresies would vanish ; and out of many churches, how- 
ever differing as to doctrinals and rituals, there would be 
formed one church. In this case, all would be governed 
as one man by the Lord ; for they would be as the mem- 
bers and organs of one body, which, though not of sim- 
ilar form or function, still have relation to one heart on 
which they all depend, both in general and in particular, 
be their respective forms ever so various. In this case, 
too, every one would say of another, in whatever doc- 
trine or whatever external worship he might be princi- 



COLLATERAL TESTIMONY. 1 83 

pled, This is my brother ; I see that he worships the 
Lord, and that he is a good man." — Ibid. 2385. 

" All the particulars of the doctrine of the New Jeru- 
salem relate to love to the Lord and love toward the 
neighbor. Love to the Lord consists in trusting in the 
Lord and doing his commandments; and to do his com- 
mandments constitutes love toward the neighbor. That 
they love the Lord who do his commandments, the Lord 
himself teaches in John xiv. 21-24; and that love to God 
and love toward our neighbor are the two commandments 
upon which hang all the law and the prophets, see Mat- 
thew xxii. 35-40. By the law and the prophets is meant 
the Word in its whole complex." — Apocalypse Revealed. 

" With those who are of the genuine, spiritual church, 
charity [or love] is the essential thing, or is in the first 
place ; whereas with those in whom faith is separate from 
its good, both as to doctrine and life, the truth of faith is 
the essential thing, or is in the first place. These latter 
are not of that church ; for life [or disinterested neigh- 
borly love] constitutes the church, but not doctrine ex- 
cept so far as it be of the life. Hence it is evident 
that the Lord's church is not here nor there, but every- 
where — both within those kingdoms where the church 
[called Christian] is, and outside of them — where the 
life is formed according to the precepts of charity." — 
t Ibid. 8152. "The societies which compose it are scat- 
tered throughout the whole world, and consist of those 
who are in love to the Lord and in charity toward the 



1 84 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE. 

neighbor. These societies are not only within the church 
[where the Word is], but also outside of it; and taken 
together — [invisible they are, save to Him who looketh 
on the heart] they are called the Lord's church scattered 
and collected from the good in the whole world, which 
is also called a communion. This communion or church 
is the Lord's kingdom on earth joined to his kingdom in 
the heavens." — Ibid. 7396. 

And it would be easy to fill a volume with extracts like 
these, from the writings of the great seer. How far the 
views here expressed are in advance of the prevailing 
spirit and teaching of his day, no. one is more competent 
to judge than yourself. Indeed, the great majority of the 
religious teachers of our own times, have not yet attained 
to this high standard — this just appreciation of the real 
catholicity of the gospel of Christ, and this perception 
of what constitutes the very essence of the church. , 

One may, therefore, affirm with entire confidence, that 
it is Emanuel Swedenborg who to-day is leading the whole 
religious world in its grand march of progress toward 
clearer^light, a nobler charity and a higher unity. It is 
Swedenborg who is instructing the people, and even the 
religious teachers themselves, in the higher ranges of 
Christian thought, to a degree beyond that of any other 
writer. Or rather, it is the Lord who is doing this by 
means of the truth revealed through Swedenborg. It is 
his writings (which are the openings of the inner, sense — 
the revealings of the divine spirit and glory of the Word) 



COLLATERAL TESTIMONY. 1 85 

that are achieving the stupendous revolution in Christian 
thought and feeling which commenced a hundred years 
ago, and is still in progress ; a revolution which can never 
be turned back, but must continue to advance until, in 
reference to the old theologies and churches, this predic- 
tion of the King of kings, "Behold, I make all things 
new," shall have been completely fulfilled. Does this 
look as if he were the dreamer or mystic or fanatic or 
self-deceived enthusiast, that he is commonly reputed? 
Does it not look, rather, as if he were a man ordained and 
sent of God ? 

Consider, further, how the popular estimate of the value 
of this man's writings has changed within the last thirty — 
yes, within the last five years ! This may be learned from 
the greatly altered tone and attitude of the periodical 
press, both secular and religious. Thirty years ago, the 
newspapers rarely mentioned him or his writings; and 
when they did, it was oftener in derision than otherwise. 
But latterly a great change has come over our most popu- 
lar journals in regard to the great seer. Not only are 
they beginning to speak of him with respect, but they tell 
their readers that his writings are getting to be a power in 
the realm of religious thought ; that they deserve to be 
carefully studied by our religious teachers and guides ; 
that no minister can longer afford to be ignorant of them. 

Not long ago the Chicago Advance said : " Swedenborg 
deserves to be studied as a philosophic writer not often 
excelled in profundity, acuteness, variety and consistency 
16* 



1 86 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE, 

of thought." The New York Independent (March, 1869) 
said : "Whoever desires to understand modern theology 
and the elements which have contributed to its formation, 
has need to study the writings of Emanuel Swedenborg." 
And three years later, the same great and truly indepen- 
dent paper said : "There is in Swedenborg's writings a 
marvelous insight — a vision of the higher truths of phi- 
losophy and religion, to which few men have attained. 
No Christian minister should fail to acquaint himself with 
the main principles of his system. " And in a still more 
recent issue: "We have no doubt that the Church of 
Christ will come at length to accept with great thankful- 
ness the large amount of truth that the writings of Swe- 
denborg contain, and to rank him among the best of its 
teachers.' ' The New York Evening Post says: "Cer- 
tainly he who desires to understand the religious convic- 
tions of the present age, cannot afford to be ignorant of 
the contribution which Emanuel Swedenborg has made 
toward them. ,, The Chicago Tribune says: "Many per- 
sons of all sects are greatly interested in Swedenborg' s 
teachings, and it seems likely to leaven more or less the 
entire lump of modern religion." And the New York 
Evening Mail says : " Swedenborgianism is becoming an 
element of great activity and importance in the religious 
belief and life of to-day. It is very true, as has been ob- 
served lately by several critics, that the doctrines of the 
Swedish seer have become a permeating formative influ- 
ence throughout the orthodox churches." 



COLLATERAL TESTIMONY. 1 87 

And this list of commendatory notices of the illustrious 
Swede and his teachings, might be largely increased from 
the leading journals of the last five years. I need not tell 
you how different all this is from the attitude of the peri- 
odical press on the same subject thirty years ago; or what 
a different estimate of the seer and his writings it clearly 
indicates. And what is the conclusion to be drawn from 
it ? That people are losing their senses ? — that they are 
getting more and more bewildered in theology, and in 
their bewilderment are ready to accept the dreams of an 
enthusiast or the utterances of a lunatic for revealed truth ? 
Or is it that thinking men and women are gradually com- 
ing to see that the world's former estimate of this man 
and his writings, was altogether erroneous ? — and that, 
with its progressive advancement in general intelligence 
and spiritual perception, it is fast coming to a truer appre- 
ciation of them? — coming to see that what it had so long 
looked upon & dreams or fantasies, are substantial and 
God-given verities ? I leave you to judge. 

But it is quite time to bring this letter to a close. Yet 
I have not said a tithe of what I might say, and should 
be glad to say, on this interesting and pregnant theme. 

I hope you will weigh with candor the considerations I 
have presented ; and especially that you will study care- 
fully and prayerfully the extracts made in my last letter. 
I believe you will do this. And if you do, I have no 
doubt but you will change from the attitude assumed in 



1 88 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE, 

your sermon on "The Hereafter," and confess yourself 
mistaken when you declared that God has made no reve- 
lation concerning the Future Life. I am encouraged in 
this belief by what I know of your rare candor and spir- 
itual insight, as well as by the fact that you have evidently 
changed your view of the Divine Trinity since my letters 
to you on that subject, thirteen years ago. For in your 
sermon which was the immediate occasion of those "Let- 
ters," you declared your belief that Father, Son, and 
Holy Spirit, " are three beings, with separate and distinct 
understandings, with separate and distinct conscience, 
with separate and distinct will ; " adding, "I understand 
their threefold personality as much as I understand the 
existence of three different friends." But ten years later, 
in a sermon on the Holy Spirit, you say: "The Holy 
Spirit pervades the universe. It is to the personality of 
God, what the light and heat of the sun are to the sun 
itself ' ' — that is, an effluence or emanation. And this is 
precisely the view set forth in my Letters; for I say: 
1 ' The Holy Spirit is not a person but an effluence — that 
divine and holy Proceeding of love and wisdom from the 
Lord, corresponding to the natural proceeding of heat 
and light from the sun." (p. 123.) Having found rea- 
sons for changing your previous view of the Trinity, I 
cannot doubt but you will find equally valid reasons for 
changing the position to which I have taken exceptions, 
in your recent sermon on "The Hereafter." 

But I trust you will believe me when I say, that it is 



COLLATERAL TESTIMONY. 1 89 

not in the hope of achieving a personal victory that I 
write. I have no ambition of that sort that I am aware 
of. Still less desirous am I that you should become " a 
Swedenborgian," in the technical or popular sense of 
that word. If you should come to believe as fully as 
I do in Swedenborg's extraordinary illumination and 
special divine mission, I would not have you join the 
" Swedenborgian " organization, nor change in the least 
your present church relations. I would advise you to 
remain right where you are, and preach just as you are 
preaching, advocating and illustrating the widest fellow- 
ship, and owning no master save the Lord Jesus Christ. 
Whatever truth we receive is his truth, and is therefore 
to be proclaimed in his name, let it come through what- 
soever channels it may. 

Nevertheless I would impress upon you the seriousness 
of the questions you are now called to consider. They 
are none other than these : Did God illumine Emanuel 
Swedenborg after the manner and to the extent alleged ? 
Did he open the eyes of his spirit, and thus intromit 
him into the spiritual world, and enable him for many 
years to hold open intercourse with angels and devils? 
And has He actually made through him a veritable reve- 
lation concerning the great Hereafter ? 

These are grave questions, demanding a serious 
answer. However shallow- or worldly-minded men may 
treat them, you cannot afford to ignore them, nor leave 
them unsolved. You can, if you try, answer them as 



I90 LETTERS ON THE FUTURE LIFE, 

well as any other man living — can answer them cor- 
rectly. You can weigh the evidence and appreciate its 
force. But before you can come to a just decision, you 
must examine the revelation itself with seriousness and 
care; — not merely the extracts given in my last letter, 
but the works of the great seer himself. 

For if the facts and evidence in the case be such as to 
compel an affirmative answer, — if a revelation of the 
Hereafter has indeed been vouchsafed, — the event must 
be reckoned as one of the most momentous in the whole 
history of the Church, or even of the human race. The 
revelation must have been granted, because seen by the 
all-wise and loving Father to be suited to his children's 
needs, and a means of drawing them nearer to Himself 
and the hosts of shining ones in the realms above. 

After a careful and prayerful study of this alleged 
revelation for more than thirty years, bringing to bear 
upon it the best powers of my understanding and the 
deepest experiences of my heart, I can testify to its 
reasonableness, its consistency, its entire agreement with 
all known truth, and the immense spiritual comfort and 
satisfaction it is capable of ministering. When you shall 
have bestowed on it much less time and thoughtful study 
than I have, I confidently believe your testimony will 
agree with mine. I believe you' will receive from it, or 
through it, a prodigious increase of spiritual power. I 
believe it will supply — what your preaching seems now 
to lack — that unwavering faith and cheering light and 



COLLATERAL TESTIMONY. 1 9 1 

uplifting joy as touching the Hereafter, which can come 
only from positive and deep conviction. 

"Watch therefore/ ' — to cite the Master's own words; 
— " for in such an hour [perchance, too, in such a 
manner] as ye think not, the Son of Man cometh. 

"Who, then, is that faithful and wise* servant, whom 
his Lord hath made ruler over his household, to give 
them meat in due season. 

"Blessed is that servant whom his Lord, when he 
cometh, shall find so doing." 

I add no more — save the unfeigned expression of my 
high esteem for you personally, and my confidence that, 
in reference to the subject on which I have written you, 
as well as to all other matters, you will act worthy of 
yourself and your sacred calling. This confidence I 
shall ever cherish, and hope ever to remain, as I am, 
Your sincere Friend and Brother, 

B. F. Barrett. 



THE END. 



OLAXTON, EEMSEN & HAFFELFINGER 

HAVE RECENTLY PUBLISHED 



The New View of Hell; Showing its Nature, Where- 
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Letters on the Divine Trinity, addressed to Henry 



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Independent. 



The Fourth Gospel, the Heart of Christ. By 
Edmund H. Sears. i2mo. pp. 551. Extra cloth, $2.50. 



" The Fourth Gospel, the Heart 
of Christ, is a book of extraordi- 
nary interest; — instructive and 
suggestive in the highest ranges 
of Christian thought and feeling... 
Its influence must be very deep 
and very salutary." — The Con- 
g regationalist. 

"A very strong book — the 
work of a powerful and indepen- 
dent thinker." — Literary World. 

" No book of recent American 
theology is likely to win more 
notice from thoughtful readers 
than this." — Church and State. 

" < The Heart of Christ ' is des- 
tined, we believe, to exert a pow- 
erful influence upon the opinions 
of thinking men in all branches 
of the Church." — New York In- 
dependent. 

" Certainly one of the most 
deeply interesting and valuable 
contributions to theological and 
devotional literature, which has 
been made in our country in this 
generation." — Liberal Christian. 



"'The Heart of Christ' is a 
grand prose poem upon as lofty a 
theme as ever engaged the pen 
of mortal. We rarely meet with 
poetry, philosophy, scholarship, 
logic, rhetoric, common sense and 
religion, all harmoniously blended 
in one book; but we have the 
marvelous combination in the 
work before us. It will inaugu- 
rate a new era in theological 
thought and discussion." — Ar- 
thur's Home Magazine. 

" We do not remember ever to 
have read a book — certainly never 
one so purely theological as this 
— with the unflagging interest and 
unmingled delight with which this 
has been read,or rather devoured.'' 
— Philadelphia Labor Tribune. 

" It is long since there has ap- 
peared in theological literature a 
work of such power and signifi- 
cance as this." — Boston yournal. 

" One of the most deeply in- 
teresting volumes of this genera- 
tion." — The Light of Home. 



FOREGLEAMS AND FORESHADOWS OF IMMORTALITY. — In 

press, and will be published early in December. By the 
same author. A work of great power and interest. 



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